From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.
We live in an age with effort waning,
with riches expected sans work;
but in all reality and actuality
There Can Be No Excellence Without Effort.
Much effort, much prosperity.
Success is dependent on effort.
The mode by which the inevitable comes to pass is effort.
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
Life is full of strife, struggle and conflict. Name one clear-headed adult on the planet who would disagree with this reality. Strife et al. is the basic nature of this world. Of course there are varying kinds and levels of struggle and, to be sure, everyone will experience them at some time or other.
The germane question is, “How do we deal with the strife, struggle and conflict? Everyone has his/her own strategy. In dealing with such situations, the Karate Institute of America offers the C.A.P. plan—an acronym for “Calm-Aware-Prepare.”
The date: 24 March 2021, Wednesday. Nine year old Nolan “Viper” Brubaker achieved his Orange Belt—the first major rank in the Kiado-Ryu martial arts system. So first, here’s a hearty CONGRATULATIONS, VIPER! You’re an awesome young man with a great heart.
But this particular KIA test, his test, experienced something that we’ve never seen in the forty-two year history of the Karate Institute of America. During Nolan’s Orange Belt ceremony, a mysterious light beam was captured in a photo by his mom’s digital camera. Of the original twenty-four images taken during the event, one of the images contained a mysterious light beam which shined directly on Viper’s Orange Belt as it lay on the ground in KIA fashion at the beginning of his commencement ceremony! It is an extraordinary photo. Thousands of pictures have been taken during the KIA’s long existence but none like this. None. Ever. How special is that!
Kiado-Ryu philosophy teaches that Martial Arts is Life. All true Black Belts understand this principle. Sun Tzu’s statement that The skillful commander takes up a position in which he cannot be defeated and misses no opportunity to master his opponent does not simply apply to mortal combat. It also applies to everyday challenges of normal human existence.
For example, take the COVID pandemic. In reality it is an opponent. As a human being, our job is to defeat it and certainly not allow it to touch us, and if it does touch us, not to let it defeat us, i.e., take our life.
Thank God for guns. Without them, people would be enslaved by other people who not only have guns but who possess a boundless appetite for power, dominance and rulership over others. History is replete with cases of tyrants subjugating and enslaving unarmed defenseless citizens. In truth, those who relinquish their guns, relinquish their freedom.
As First President of the United States of America, George Washington—Father of our Country and Commander in Chief of the colonial armies who defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution—aptly, clearly, and forcefully stated:
Theodore “Teddy,” “Rough-Rider” Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States at age 42, serving in that role from 14 September 1901 to 4 March 1909 upon the assassination of President William McKinley. Ascending to America’s highest office, Roosevelt was and remains the youngest President in American history.
Roosevelt, known by his initials “T.R.,” was, to use the vernacular, a tough dude, a man’s man. He struggled with asthma in his youth. In his adult years his first wife and mother died on the same day in 1884. Rough-Rider Teddy garnered status as an American hero during the Spanish-American War of 1898 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for brokering an end to the Russo-Japanese War.