A Mother’s Take on Martial Arts
Earlier this evening, my 7 year old son goes up to me with two arnis sticks on hand and says he wants to show me his redonda. Redonda is a basic arnis exercise/sequence that students learn. I continue on by correcting his form and I watched in awe at how quickly he absorbed it. It was a proud moment for me because at a very young age , he has shown us that he is very advanced in martial arts and has obviously inherited his father’s skills. I even believe that he will overtake his dad in his teens.
At that moment, I just realized that I want my boys to excel in martial arts because it teaches them discipline, teamwork, resistance and foresight. I wish for them to be world champions and black belts at a young age. Of course, I am never one to force my kids to get into it. Only if they would want to. My 2nd son though has shown a great interest in martial arts at a young age of 3 which is why I support him completely and try to impart the little that I know about the various martial arts I got into back in the day. Of course it helps that his father is also pretty good at it. lol.
Having said that though, what I would never want for them is to take the path of violence wherein they are tested in the streets. I have seen and gone down that path many times over and it was an ugly path. The number of people you beat up in the street just because you feel you need to test your skills or because people want to test you does not define you as a man or a good martial artist. How you deal with compromising situations without having to hurt anyone is what defines you. So for that I wish that my children would have the skills but at the same time the presence of mind not to abuse it.
I encourage parents to get their kids, when they are ready (6-7 years old is the suggested age for any child to get into a sport), into martial arts, whether it be karate, jiu jitsu, muay thai, boxing, wrestling, judo , or even Arnis. It helps build their confidence and self esteem. But remember, choose their instructor well. See what kind of people train in the school, observe your child’s behavior as he advances into training and most of all, constantly remind them to appreciate the art and really understand the discipline and beauty behind it.
Your in martial arts,
As I was channel surfing , I chanced upon Cruel Intentions, the remake of the old movie Dangerous Liaisons starring Glenn Close, John Malcovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. This movie has got be one of my all time favorites. At a ripe age of 11 I saw this movie that revolves around sex, lies, deception and death.For some odd reason, I’ve always been into movies that were too complicated for my age. Dangerous Liaisons to me is an epitomy of the world that we live in. We are all somehow entangled in a world of gossip, deception, back stabbing, and controversy. Whether we admit it or not, it is always more interesting to play this game called life with some dirt in it. There have always been three players in this game. The one on the left, the one on the right, and the spectators. Why left and right and not the good and the bad? Because none of us can ever say who is right and who is wrong. Each of us will have our own opinion as to who should be glorified or crucified. The truth of the matter is, who are we to judge? This movie represents, in my opinion, the world we are in right now. Some are two steps ahead, others two steps behind. Some think they control the world , some just choose to stay behind the front line and follow. Some win, some lose, some laugh at them both for acting like children. There are some of us who thrive on the misery of others while some think they are making things better by trying to get involved. Dangerous Liaisons is our favorite game. Why? Because it makes life so much more interesting. At the height of the social media boom, we have witnessed and maybe even participated in this game wherein we find ourselves taking sides, keeping mum or just sitting back with a box of popcorn enjoying as the plot thickens.
But at the end of it all does anyone really win? More often than not people are left scarred and hurt. We all think that there’s this invisible scoreboard where we earn points each time we make our point. Guess what? There are no scoreboards. You don’t earn points. My mentors say we live in a 1% realm of chaos, physical and material attachment, and ego.
We can turn things around. I am no preacher and I too like everyone else have participated in this game more than I can count. But we can be aware that at some point in our lives, we have the choice to change our consciousness… for the better.
The 99% realm is so much more beautiful, I am told. Today let’s reach for that. the 99%. It’s time we made this a better world. It’s time we played a game where everyone walked away happy.. a winner
PS. Don’t you think TV series like Melrose Place, Gossip Girl, Revenge etc remind you so much of Dangerous Liaisons?
Much love and light,
thoughtbubble
#picstitch with the sun in my eyes and the world at my feet … (Taken with Instagram)
Such a sweet song :-)
The Script - The Man Who Can’t Be Moved (by TheScriptVEVO)
