Wednesday, August 05, 2009

aikido is for everyone, but not everyone is for aikido

I saw this expression a long time ago.
At the time, since I was studying aikido, it was cool.
It was elitist to think of us as a group of dedicated students that other people couldn't fully understand, and couldn't be a part of. We were different. We were the chosen few.
aikido is for everyone, but everyone is not for aikido. Some just don't have what it takes.
But we did. That's what we thought, anyway.

I was thinking about that expression again today. It made me sad.
If everyone is not for aikido, what can they be for? Do they get ignored? cast aside? forgotten?
I think "MARTIAL ARTS IS FOR EVERYONE, AND EVERYONE IS FOR MARTIAL ARTS"

Regardless of level, or skill, or ability, or intellect.
Especially for those whom we might think martial arts cannot help.
For the weak, the timid, the shy, the infirm. For the people who lack focus, who lack commitment. For people who just can never seem to do anything right. For people who cannot tell right from left. For the losers.
That's right. FOR THE LOSERS.

So many times in my life, my martial arts was all I had to depend on.
One more punch or kick. One more pushup or situp. One more class.
When nothing else in my life was going right, martial arts was.
When nothing else in my life made sense, martial arts did.
I focused on just what was in front of me and tried to get through the class.
Afterward, I always felt better. Inch by sometimes painful inch, my life improved.
It has been improving ever since I started.

I never was to have a martial arts world which excludes anyone from the HOPE that the training can give them. The hope that they can improve and grow and change. We all can. That little thread of hope was all I had to hang onto sometimes.

Bring the losers - they will become winners in martial arts.

IT'S FOR EVERYONE!! IT CAN BE FOR YOU, TOO.

No comments: