Legacy
Well the last week as been something, I have been going thought a lot of emotions and thinking and dealing with a lot of stuff. I would like to thank all of you for your kind words and support, it really means a lot. With my mom passing I have been thinking about my childhood and how much of an influence she has been to me. My Mother was a very active person, I remember as a small boy watching her working out and telling me the importance of exercise and being fit. She would tell me that working out made you feel good and look good and that it was very important to not only work out but eat well also. I grew up with home cooked meals and with the knowledge of what to eat and not to eat. While she would let us eat sweets it was always balanced with veggies and all the other good foods. This was at a time before the fad diets and all the knowledge of foods today. It wasn’t like we ate health food, just healthy food.
I think that this was what got me into training and working out with Karate, She set the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle. I remember her telling me that I would find something that I would like and to keep looking and trying difference things. I wasn’t very interested in the usual games like baseball, or football. I did keep an open mind and when I found Karate I knew it was for me.
This has got me thinking about master Takazawa and all the old masters of karate. I think that while it is important to follow their lead and their building blocks of karate, it should be more of a reference, not to totally follow with a blind faith. To keep that open mind and keep trying new things and ideas with our training, that is why there is so many different styles and methods. Karate has evolved, and most of the changes are for the better.
So I feel that it is important to know our past and have it as a reference point but to keep growing and learning.
While we need to keep the legacy of past people we shouldn’t feel we need to live in the past to keep their teachings going.
see you in the dojo