Captain Lou Gacs, United States Marine Corps, Retired, has been a student and dear friend of Mr. King and the Karate Institute of America for nearly forty years. As is well known, the motto for the U.S. Marine Corps is semper fi (short for semper fidelis) meaning “always faithful,” and if there is one quality describing Lou Gacs more than any other, it is “always faithful.” No doubt about it.
From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.
Of all life’s skills
with which to carry,
remember this …
Balance is Primary!
Anyone can teeter-totter but not everyone can balance.
Man always travels along precipices. His truest obligation is to keep his balance.
The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.
Front Cover. Cover artist: Adam “Frog” Mahan Back Cover
The Karate Consciousness: From Worldly Warrior to Mystic Master is dedicated to the philosophy that karate is both an excellent system for the integration of body, mind and spirit as well as an excellent vehicle for the evolution of one’s consciousness of life from a mundane perspective to a more elevated and edified reality.
Judy “Striker” Gompf is back on track and on the move toward her Purple Belt and a new career. Having taken some time off, she is diligently practicing her Kiado-Ryu forms, techniques, and fighting skills, as well as cross training. She recently set a new personal best of 800 lunges! That’s right, 800! Quite a feat, especially after only being able to do 20 lunges at a time when she first started. Talk about determination! She’s got it in spades. As a result, there’s a massive amount of strength in Striker’s legs, so don’t get kicked!
Nicole “Goldilocks” Hackler—KIA Faithful and Marine Corps wife to retired husband, Warren—has added the title of “Authoress” to her many accomplishments. Congratulations, Goldilocks!
Nicole’s poem, A Knock on the Door, is included in the 2017 edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Military Families, 101 Stories about the Force Behind the Forces.
Lovely as always, and with her contagious effervescent personality, as always, Goldilocks poses with the book that has put her on the map of published authors. Her poem, A Knock on the Door, is featured on pages 116/117. It is a poignant poetic description of the fear that every military wife or spouse dreads—a knock on the door, a knock which can change one’s life in the blink of an eye, a knock whose potential message makes one’s heart stop cold. Her poem skillfully captures the haunting and frightening feeling that explodes when one hears that “knock.”
Sadly, this week’s feature reveals the power of one punch, one cowardly sucker punch which ended the life of a forty-five year old father of five children, Louie Campos.
The original story, written by Melissa MacBride:
http://abc7.com/news/sucker-punch-in-las-vegas-kills-victorville-father-of-5/1960092/
A follow-up story by ABC News reports that the murderer, an ex-felon, has been arrested and awaits trial:
http://abc7.com/news/man-arrested-for-fatal-sucker-punch-on-socal-father-of-5-in-las-vegas/1966683/
Two major lessons can be learned from this tragedy:
The Karate Institute of America sends its deepest sympathies to Mrs. Campos, their five children and the entire Campos family. RIP - Louie Campos. Be well, Campos family.