It’s awesome how KIA Black Belts remember what they learned during their Kiado-Ryu journey. Here’s a prime example. It’s funny, cogent, but a tad painful to watch. Liz Avram, aka “Quasar,” is the 46th Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America. She received her 1st Dan Ranking on 10 August 1996, not exactly yesterday, but her memory is as sharp as a chef’s cooking knife. Quasar forwarded the following GIF image of a man attempting to mount a horse from the rear.
Alfred Lord Tennyson Poet Laureate of England, 19th Century He hardly looks like a warrior, doesn’t he? Yet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate of England during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 to 1901), was a warrior, as we all are, frankly. In fact, each of us goes to war every day, battling issues specific to our karma. No one is immune from the fray, from being forced to fight both our external problems and internal demons.
Martial Arts competitions offer a wonderful opportunity for those so disposed to perform their craft and show their expertise. In the Black Belt weapons division—where the bo was featured—there has been no more elegant, dynamic and powerful performer than Mike Bernardo. Back in the 1980s and 1990s when karate tournaments flourished, he was “the” quintessential bo performer and champion. The following 1990 video, taken from YouTube, showcases Bernardo’s performance in the Weapons Division of the New England Open.
Bruce Lee was, indisputably, the catalyst for the growth of martial arts throughout the world in the latter part of the 20th Century, and he was certainly the most influential martial artist in modern history. Who is there who has not been positively affected by him, his art, his movies? If there is one person who can be considered “the” icon of martial arts, it is Bruce Lee. Lee was a thinker.
Life lessons come to us from all avenues of the human spectrum. The movie Heartbreak Ridge starring Clint Eastwood offers a poignant lesson for all of us, a lesson which, if applied, can certainly enable us to live a better, more productive and substantive life. In the movie, Eastwood plays the role of Thomas Highway, an aging Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant, tasked with straightening out a Recon (Reconnaissance) Platoon in the Second Marine Division, a platoon comprised of a bunch of out-of-control, defiant and arrogant losers, which is hardly the case of any real Marine unit of any size but, nonetheless, it makes for a good movie, however unrealistic the plot.
One would think that after thousands of years of human civilization, man would get the idea that appeasement is not a self-defense strategy. How many times has appeasement been tried and failed, not only in the social collective of world history but in peoples' personal lives as well? The answer is that appeasement never works. Bullies who force themselves on others are never appeased. To them, appeasement is a sign of weakness and a green light to attack and destroy and then keep on attacking and destroying.