Don't Fight The Tao

Most of uf us might answer this question with "My teacher is Sensei so-and-so", or "My Sifu is Mr./Ms. so-and-so".  But, really, do you have only "one" teacher?

 

I guess the question should be: "How many teachers do you have?" Personally, I have hundreds…..

 

Okay, before you start harping about how I sound like I’m bragging about the "hundreds" of arts I’ve studied, let me tell you a story….

 

When I was in my late teens and early 20’s, I was a member of the Seattle Guardian Angels (the civilian patrol group). We were required to keep a regular schedule of training in not only patrol techniques, guidelines regarding citizen’s arrest, and situation de-escalation, but also martial arts (mainly for fitness, but also for non-violent controlling techniques). One evening, our chapter attended a martial arts seminar. One of our members was a young man named "Michael". He had Cerebral Palsy, was wheelchair bound, and communicated by a keyboard that not only displayed text but "talked" as well. (pretty high-tech for the late 80’s!).  He was able to move one arm just enough to reach a bit and grab something, but he mainly used that arm to operate the joystick to control his motorized wheelchair. Although he did not talk (he vocalized alot with grunts as he tried to form words), Michael was a wonderful soul…he always had a smile when he came to patrol.

At this martial arts seminar, the instructor asked us to find a practice partner. As I looked around for a partner, I noticed that people outside of our Guardian Angel group took one look at Michael and immediately looked elsewhere to find a training partner. I almost cried at the sight. Some of the people even avoided eye contact with Michael in order to not be "noticed" by Michael as a potential training partner. I was irritated by the behavior of these "martial artists".  One man asked me to be his partner, but I mumbled "Sorry, I already have one"…..

 

I walked over to Michael, and I said "Ya know…in the 6 months you’ve been in the Angels, I never got a chance to work out with you….wanna partner up with me??" Michael smiled and tried to vocalize as he typed on his keyboard "You bet!"

 

The instructor taught a basic Chin-Na maneuver, and I found that Michael had to modify his technique due to the fact that his motorized wheelchair did not have 2 feet like the rest of us. As a grabbed for him, he deftly swung that wheelchair back and arced around…the footrests of this wheelchair slamming me right in the shins. The pain was instant, hot, and bad enough to make me bend over with tears welling up in my eyes. I then felt a strong hand grab a handful of my long hair and I found my head coming to his armrest REALLY fast.

 

Needless to say, I slammed into the armrest pretty hard. You know how in cartoons, when a cartoon characters gets hit in the head and there are birds whistling and starts flying around the character’s head?…….it really happens, you know!  Michael guffawed. He was having a really good time, bouncing me around and slamming into my shins. That wheelchair was pretty quick!

 

We learned several techniques that day, and with each technique, I respected the steel of a wheelchair more and more.  There were many times where we were asked to find another training partner, and each time no one would choose to work with Michael. I had the honor of working with him the whole time. After the seminar, we shook hands with the other workshop attendees, saying "thanks for working with me". As I shook each person’s hand after they shook Michael’s, I thought to myself "How dare you say to Michael ‘thanks for working with me’ when you wouldn’t even acknowledge him!" I was pretty perturbed at everyone’s "two faced, plastic" behavior.

 

Later, as we returned to the GA headquarters, Michael motioned me to read his keyboard. It said "Thanks for working with me!" I answered "I had a great time! But, I was kind of pissed off about…" Michael loudly moan-grunted, motioning me to stop. He typed……and the keyboard said "why be pissed at other’s not learning? They learned, yes. Their own thing. I learned alot from you today, Rusty". 

 

…."And I, from you, Mike"

 

There’s a saying by Confucius "Among any three people walking, there must be my teacher". Michael taught me more than just Chin Na that day. He taught me that "adversity" is a relative term. What you or I might thing is a "bad day" becasue things arent’ going well for us, would be considered a good day for Michael…..here we are, with two arms, two legs and the ability to speak,…and Michael is in a wheelchair, having people look down on him each day. What would be a bad day for Michael, would most likely drive most of us to slashing ourselves. I learned that Michael’s "weakness" was indeed his strength. He can lull people into a false sense of confidence at being able to "beat the crippled guy"….and WHAM!…your shins are slammed hard. Michael’s hand was indeed strong when it grabbed my hair….I had no choice but to meet his armrest up close and personal. He taught me to never underestimate the opponent, and to never be lulled into a false sense of victory. He taught me to try and bring ‘understanding’ into the picture before "anger".

 

Since that day, it allowed me to realized that anyone is my teacher.  Does everyone I learn from need to be a martial artist? No, absolutely not. To this day, I make an effort to learn and absorb the knowledge and expertise of anyone that I come in contact with. To be able to open oneself to learning from absolutely anybody…..that, is one of the things that puts the word "art" next to "martial".