The day—15 November 2018, Thursday. It was a Blue Belt milestone for Hannah Shamassian and the Karate Institute of America as this lovely young lady moved up another rung on the Kiado-Ryu ladder of accomplishment.
Hannah is a paradox. She’s very quiet during her lessons, using few words to communicate with Mr. King. But when she does her bag work, look out! Her power is off the charts for her size, as her brother, Josh, understands full well.
He was one of the best and toughest fighters in the history of the Karate Institute of America. “He” is Guy McDonald, call sign “Hollywood.” He and Mr. King met up for lunch in October. It was awesome to reconnect after so many decades, decades that strangely seem like only a few weeks. How amazingly time flies. Yet, how wonderful it was to relive old stories and memories of a magical time gone by.
The following is an excerpt from chapter 2 of the second edition of The Karate Consciousness: From Worldly Warrior to Mystic Master, a book by Richard Andrew King.
Man was not created to dominate his fellow man. He was created to live in the fullness of the Light and to radiate that Light throughout the corridors of the universe.
The karate consciousness of today is not centered in the fullness of the Light—divine illumination and understanding as characterized by life, love, peace, perfection, purity, prosperity, health, harmony, strength and wisdom. Rather, and quite noticeably, it is centered in a consciousness of dominance and what shall be referred to herein as the “Power in the Flock Syndrome.”
Lt. Colonel Ronald R. King is honored on Panel 27E, Line 44 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Follow the link to review his feature on The Wall of Faces and various testimonials of appreciation for his duty and service to America.
http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/28069/RONALD-R-KING
Lt. Col. King’s commemoration on The Wall of Faces states he was MIA (Missing In Action). The story of his death, as told to his now-deceased wife, Margaret, by another USAF pilot who witnessed his tragic demise, was that his fighter jet, an F-105 Thunderchief, caught on fire during an airborne refueling mission. Rather than eject over land where his plane could possibly have killed innocent people when it crashed, Lt. Col. King took his plane out over the Tonkin Gulf where it would be of no harm to others upon crashing. As he ejected the aircraft, his neck was apparently broken due to a malfunctioning canopy. The officer witnessing the accident stated his body was lifeless as it fell into the raging waves of the Tonkin Sea. His body was never recovered because of the high storm waves. Truly, his actions to potentially protect innocent people had his plane crashed over land was the result of a courageous, valiant and selfless spirit.
How extremely relevant are MacArthur’s words, not just for a post WWII America, but for a 2018 America? In their own way, Thomas Jefferson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and others have vocalized the same sentient concern regarding the destructive potential of negative internal forces.
Internal forces often exceed external forces in their destructive aspect. As powerfully as MacArthur’s words ring true in a national sense, do they not also ring true for each of us in a personal sense? What about the internal threats affecting each of us that are of our own making?