Talking bad about another martial artist. I am sorry but I have to vent on this one. I do not care if you are a Hanshi a Shihan a Soke or whatever if you cannot keep your mouth shut and not talk smack about another martial artist then you truly do not deserve the rank you were given. I recently went to the news feed and read some posts that a high ranking martial artist posted who will remain nameless and it made me sick. This person has been in the martial arts longer than I have been alive I was born in the year of 1969 and started the arts when I was around 6 years of age so my martial arts path started in 1975. If this person is bad mouthing other high ranking martial artists than he or she does not understand what budo is all about. I lost total respect for this person today. I was taught to treat people the way I would want to be treated and that is with respect. That includes the way I perform my duties as a police officer on the street , treat people all people with respect. I do not remember in the 70s as a child and in the 80s all the smack talk and then it started around the late 90s . The only titles I had heard of were Sensei and Sempai that was it . There were no titles floating around such as Renshi , Kyoshi, Shihan, Hanshi, Soke. I loved the article Hanshi Stephen Kaufman wrote the other day about people now wanting themselves to be called Honorable Great Grandmaster , Supreme Great Grandmaster now their are dan ranks above the coveted 10th dan. I remember watching a documentary on martial arts and it had the Beast from Amsterdam in it Jon Bluming a legit 10th dan in Kyokushinkai Karate and a legit 9th dan in Judo and he does not go around demanding to be called supreme grandmaster and he made a joke saying they probably gave him the high ranks since he is so damn old LOL. He still rolls around on the mats with his boys and girls. I remember one day looking up in the 1973 Guinness Book Of World Records to see who was the highest ranked martial artist and it had Gogen Yamaguchi of Goju Ryu Karate Do fame listed I am sure there were a few others in Japan with the same rank but he was the one listed. Now on every street corner the owner of the school has a 9th or 10th dan and is still in their 30s. I will be turning 45 years of age this February and celebrating my 38th year in the martial arts. I have had the privilege to train under great masters and it took me over 15 years to go from 3rd dan in Taiho Jutsu to 6th dan We have approximately 7.5 billion people on this planet and millions of people who practice the martial arts. So know one can tell me that there is only one person who is the sole person who knows a particular art it is physically impossible. I say things the way the are and if people do not like it then so be it unfriend me. Many arts have a cult like following and if it is not their way then it is the highway. Have an open mind people. Stop talking and train and share with each other. Can you imagine the amount of knowledge we all could share if we put all that energy into sharing instead of gossiping and talking smack about people and trying to figure out if their lineage is correct or not. Also stop saying my art is the authentic style it is insulting to all other arts. I share on you tube it started off as a refresher for my students and then it took off with people who did not have access to a school but had internet access. I also post on facebook since some do not have a you tube account. Let me finish off by saying that I was not only taught the core values of life by my parents but my martial arts teachers. I actually had my martial arts teachers check my report cards to see if I was keeping my marks up and if we got a third strike and did not have a learning disability we were demoted in rank until the marks came up. Can you imagine if we did that nowadays people would freak. Hence me not having a school because that is the way I would run it and I would be out of business so fast my head would spin. I have approached some masters on topics and you have to go through their secretary and then treasurer and then their second in command get off your pedestal you put on your pants just like everyone else and take a shit just like the rest of us. That is why it is so refreshing to speak to a Grandmaster one on one and they act not god like. There is only one master for me and he is above. This may come across very offensive to many and I apologize if it does but I call it like I see it. Let me finish off with a quote from Dr Seuss that my student Mark in my videos put me onto Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind dont matter and those who matter dont mind. To all my seniors who are Grandmasters who do not put themselves on pedestals stay who you are because that is what the rest of us love about you all. The rest can write books and wear their two foot wide gold belt and think of themselves as demi gods. Respectfully Richard Rogers.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 22:02:37 +0000
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