These are tough times, right? So what’s the answer? It’s simple. Get tougher.

Life is not complicated. We exist in a bi-polar universe. Therefore, there will always be good times and bad times. There is day and there is night; hot and cold, wet and dry, winter and summer; fall and spring, etc. Wisdom necessitates that we understand this universal principle and plan accordingly—emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually.

One of the noticeable things about the environment of present-day earth is that it is obviously going through tough times. There are no pills, magic words, potions or fairy dust that will make everything better. Sometimes—and this is one of those times—the only solution is that we simply have to get tougher and be tougher than the tough times we’re transiting.

From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.

A great man stands on God. A small man stands on a great man.

Responsibility is the price of greatness.

No man ever yet became great by imitation.

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.

The world population in this year of 2022 is nearly eight billion people (8,000,000,000). ( https://www.worldometers.info/world-population). That’s a lot of human beings. Of this extremely large number of souls, how many do you suppose have ever had to stand still, perfectly still, without so much as a finger twitch for 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 15 minutes? 20 minutes? 30 minutes? 40 minutes? 50 minutes? One hour? The lower amount of time, 5 to 20 minutes, is pretty easy to master. But what about the higher units of time: 30, 40, 50, 60 minutes?

What does Mark Twain—Samuel Langhorne Clemens—have to do with Martial Arts? Actually nothing, per se. Martial artists have their martial skills. Mark Twain had his wit. His tongue was so sharp it could cut a person down before he blinked. For Twain, his wit was his martial art.

Mark Twain has been recognized as the greatest humorist in American history. The great writer, William Faulkner, credits Mark Twain as the “Father of American literature.”

This is a big deal! Chris “Growler” Grau, the 36th Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America, achieved a 5th Dan “Master” ranking on 14 July 2022.

With this hallmark achievement, Chris is to be honorably acknowledged as “Master Grau” in the Kiado-Ryu martial arts system. He is only the second Black Belt in the 43 year history of the KIA to be awarded such status, joining Kim “Cultivator” Thomas who was the first Kiado-Ryu Black Belt to attain such a high rank and awarded to him on 15 December 2015. Master Thomas is the 63rd Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America.

You remember “Big Mike,” right? He was the focal point of the 2009 movie “The Blind Side” in which Quinton Aaron played the part of a homeless kid, Michael Ohr, who eventually became a professional football player in the National Football League (NFL). Sandra Bullock played the charitable mother (Leigh Anne Tuohy) who guided and supported “Big Mike” in his journey. For her performance, Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress.