Your Weekly Martial Arts Lesson

Respect- You Must Give In Order To Get
I am currently at a Dan Kennedy marketing seminar in Atlanta and there are
some great martial artists and business owners here. As I sat around and
watched some of them in action this evening, I was reminded of the deep
respect that serious martial artists have for one another no matter what
style they practice.

There is an old Chinese saying, "The stalk that carries the most grain, bows
the lowest." I think this carries into the martial arts philosophy in that
most of the time, the best warriors of all, are usually the most humble.
This follows a natural principle called "The Law of The Farm". Everyone
knows that a farmer plants his crop in the spring, works it all year and
gets to harvest in the fall. This natural law is true in business, personal
relationships and basically anything you want to achieve in life.

The truth is that you need to pay in advance, full price for anything you
get. Many people are raised today thinking they can get things now and pay
for them later based on the way our society has become, but in all important
things, you must give first and then you get.

This is especially true with respect. Respect is something you must earn,
not demand from others. Once you start showing respect to others, then
respect will start coming back to you. In traditional martial arts, the
senior students respect and take care of the beginning students as well as
the senior students because they know that each position is very important
in the overall scheme of things. The teacher respects the students, because
without them, he would not have any position to teach and the students
respect their teacher because they know what he is teaching is priceless and
will change their lives forever. This mutual respect is the foundation of
black belt excellence and what each martial artists should strive for.

Respectfully,


Terry Bryan