So, I was driving down International Blvd. again (yeah, it's what I do for fun) and I saw the words "karate" in that pseudo-Oriental type script that's so common. Anyway, the name of the place was "Haywood Brothers Karate" and it had "McDojo" written all over it (not a judgement, just a feeling I got based upon the trophies in the windows and the samurai swords on the wall). The instructor was not there but I talked to an older adult male student. He explained to me that they learned what was called "kenpo karate". I ignorantly asked if that was at all connected to Okinawan karate. He couldn't give me a straight answer. I felt dumb for sounding as if I was challenging his knowledge base.
Since going to Detroit and realizing a great many things about this art of my ancestors, it concerns me even more so now about what is being taught out there, specifically with regards to self-defense. Having read (and still reading) the thoughts of Rory Miller, Iain Abernethy, Patrick McCarthy and etc. it concerns me that a lot of what is passing as "martial arts" or "self-defense" is a bunch of bullshit. I think Jesse Enkamp over at KARATEbyJesse said it best; it's like walking into a gun store and not realizing that you bought a squirt gun. These young people out on these streets, in these schools, they need real skills. Part of what I want to do is get involved with them so that I can learn from them about what they experience on a daily basis, but also to implement a quality, skills-for-life karate/martial arts curriculum that produces functional self-defensive skill in the individual while giving them the critical thinking skills that is so lacking in the martial arts community. To me I'm like, these young people's lives are on the line! You can't be teaching them some cult bullshit and passing it off as "a way of life". You teach narrow-mindedly, you produce narrow minds. I think about what happened to me the other day when those two young men tried to rob me. It was scary. I didn't know what to do. Here I am learning a martial art and after 5 years I still don't know what to do? I know how to score a point in a tournament. I know how to perform my kata for a trophy. But when someone intends to inflict potential harm on me for my material possessions, I'm clueless. And that's what needs to change. It's not about "fighting" someone. It's not about "defending your pride". This is about your life. About your personal safety. About not having to live in fear of others. How can you function as a whole human being if you are constantly sizing up the next guy, worried that you might have to fight? Worried that you might get punked. One of the sayings I like, which I read on Patrick McCarthy's website goes, "A clenched fist cannot shake hands".
I really have no idea of what my purpose in life is. I don't know exactly what my "bliss" is (as talked about by Joseph Campbell). What I do feel is that I have to keep learning and growing. Being a "quantum karateka" means that I keep reading, learning, and training. It means that I keep searching for authenticity, for genuineness, for quality, for truth. It does us really no good if we are teaching martial arts and we have no personal experience with physical violence. It is that experience that informs the art. How I can gain that experience I really have no solid clue. All I do know is that if I were to teach people karate, I would start with being real. And creating a curriculum that revolves around what's real. I'm not interested in blindly passing on the art of my ancestors because of some feeling of "duty". I respect my Sensei, but I'm not going to blindly follow in the master's footsteps. There's too much real shit at stake for that. These Detroit and Oakland streets are letting me know.
Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até
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