Are We Having Fun Yet?

 

There was a blogger that I used to link to that lived in a dojo at some kind of an enclave that housed aikido students (the blog has since been removed). He was an ushideshi, literally, a resident disciple. The deal was you go to Japan for like a year, live in a temple with the master and the other deshi, train, do chores, go shopping, and do household miscellanea, all the while angling for a black belt. The implied real goal was to become immersed into Japanese culture and the concept of budo, martial arts as a way of life, which along side of self defense techniques has a moralistic, spritual core. Ruffians and scrappers need not apply. I deeply admire anyone who aspires to a year of sacrifice to such commitment (and money). Clearly this is not a path for those who think they're less-than-serious martial artists. Not everyone is seeking a 'way of life.' 

I recently saw an internet meme that read "Martial Arts Is Not A Hobby", but as I see it, martial arts can be anything you wish it to be, especially if you're doling out monthly payments to a place in a strip mall. Then I saw this on reddit:

 

My daughter is 11 and has some focus issues and joining Tae Kwon Do class helps her tremendously with physical fitness, discipline and she thrives on the structure of it. I've had at least 5 MMA bros tell me that Tae Kwon Do is fake, BS and not real fighting. Like [...] dude - she's 11 years old, not a cage fighter and she likes standing in a line and kicking.

 

Roughly half of adults 18 - 44 consider themselves a fan of combat sports. Small wonder 'MMA bros' is a thing. Aside from kids who make up a sizeable portion of just about any traditional martial arts school, adult practitioners of martial arts benefit from discipline and staying fit too. But very few join a club to actively compete or to test their wares to see if it works. I've taken my training seriously, but I also enjoy the social interaction an adult class can offer. Being a karate hobbyist has afforded me the ability to enjoy my pastime with good cheer and at times a sense of humor. Laughter, it is said, is good medicine.  

 

I've noticed a hallmark of many high ranking instructors is their sense of humor, no doubt to offset many years of teaching the art of physical mayhem. Ever see the movie Full Metal Jacket? For his portrayal of a US Marine drill instructor, R. Lee Ermey should've won an award for best debasing wisecracks. Ermey, who in real life spent more than a decade in The Corps, was originally brought in as a technical advisor for the film, but his rendition of how an actual DI really behaves was so impressive that they decided to just give him the role. Many of his lines were unscripted and improvised by him. Absolutely brutal, but admittedly some of his rants were pretty funny. It's no coincidence that karate first came to the US courtesy of Marines stationed on Okinawa in the 1950s, and fortunately few of us ever had a sensei like Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. But for something as hard and painful as karate training in a legit dojo, having some laughs and fun in moderation can go a long way. Or to quote an iconic line from another military movie, "Lighten up, Francis."