Amending Forward

 

 

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life doing nothing."

-George Bernard Shaw

 

"Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them."

-Bruce Lee

 

 

 

 

That moment when you do something wrong in the practice hall, and pissed off your teacher.

 

 

That's what I'd like to look at today- those times when we make mistakes. Sometimes they are quite funny when looking back, but when we experience them it never seems that way.

 

Perhaps the most entertaining instance of what I am talking about that occurred to me was when I accidentally washed my white uniform with a red shirt, and it came out pink, and was the only heavy-weight uniform I owned, which was the attire at that school.

 

 

 

WUCHAAAA!!1!ONE!!

 

 

I am sure you have your own similar experiences.

 

One of the worst I did in the training hall was when preparing for my 1st Dan exam. I had already become a 3rd dan at another school two years before, and was still quite young. Mature as I was considered then, I was still fifteen, and had a lot to learn.

 

I was sparring against two people, and at one point one of the people, who I actually respect a lot, dropped her hands and I landed a blow to her face. We don't pull punches, and men and women, children and adults receive the same treatment.

 

Anyway we exited the studio and she made a comment about the strike, and I was so tired I didn't think about how I responded, which was a snotty, "You shouldn't have dropped your hands."

 

I came in the next day, and was screamed at for a good while by my master. It was the only time my teacher had to. I had given her two black eyes, and I frankly deserved the scolding. But truth be told, I am as ashamed at having hurt her in practice, as having disappointed my favorite teacher.

 

And of course I apologized, then did my push-ups, went to sparring class, and got a fair beating.

 

I am also sure that many of you who read this have also experienced something similar in your own particular way.

 

Having said that, once you get up, all you can do is not make the same mistake.

 

I've never had my belt pulled. I've been expelled from public school though. I've drank and done stupid things, and I've gotten into fights I honestly didn't need to.

 

As difficult as it is to let yourself down, when you let down those you love and who care about you for the simple fact that you are you, it is a hell deserving its own circle.

 

But, all mistakes carry a silver lining- they never have to happen again. And while inevitable that things do occur, how we handle those events are drawn from not only the mistakes of our past, but our successes.

 

And its something we so often forget, that when misfortune occurs, whether by our hand or life, that it will end someday. But so often many will then forget, once the problem is over, that it ever really happened. They may recall they went through something, but it is a rare thing for a person to carry the feeling of that experience forever.

 

This to me is in part what fuels addiction. The heroine addict may overdose and die, and have their life saved by one mean or another. But then just a few weeks later the immediacy of the experience has dimmed and faded, and so they use again, come back again only to repeat the cycle.

 

Don't be like that, everything turns in circles, and cycles are a locked behavior. Never keep detrimental cycles.

That's what a martial artist is, someone who practices becoming a better human being. And that is what martial artists do; hone our skills in every area we can. Because of that mistakes and downfalls will happen.

 

All one can do when such perchance occur is to be completely honest with whomever you hurt, even if that is just yourself, and express the desire to make an amend.

 

 

 

"It is not our mistakes who we are, it is how we recover from those mistakes."

-Bo Bennett