Build...don't Break

Build...don't Break by Vincent Cooper

It was a miserable night. The wind was howling and a cold, driving rain had kept everyone inside their homes. Well, not quite everyone. Three people had turned up for training and as the session finished sensei thanked them for making the effort while explaining that while anyone could do karate when they felt like it…the test was to train when you didn’t feel like it. Finally he explained that he had planned a little test for everyone tonight. He pulled out three pieces of 12” by 12” boards of wood and handed one board to each student, telling them to ‘practice their karate’ and come back next time with the results of what they had done.

Next class the weather had improved significantly and, with it, attendance. Before beginning the class proper sensei explained to his eager students about the task he had given the three attendees from last time. Next, he invited each of them to talk about what they had done.

The first produced his board and handed it back to his sensei. He hadn’t done anything. Sensei gave him an encouraging smile and thanked him nevertheless. That one never understood that turning up was only a part of what was necessary to achieve perfection and understanding. Effort was also necessary.

The second approached sensei with a broad smile on his face and held up two halves of the broken board. He explained that he practiced his form everyday and visualized himself breaking the board. When he felt ready he prepared the board and broke it in half with a single sweep of his hand. Sensei thanked him also and congratulated him on his skill at tameshiwari. That one went on to achieve his black belt and became a competent practitioner. But one day he finally encountered a barrier that he couldn’t break through and thereafter his skill began to stagnate until he finally lost interest. He never did anything particularly useful with his art.

The third karateka walked up to sensei holding a package and explained that he had a surprise. Intrigued, sensei invited him to reveal what he had. The karateka announced that he had a gift for sensei and pulled a matt black, odd shaped object from the package. When he held it up it took a few seconds for the onlooking students to recognize what it was. One by one though, starting with the seniors, a wave of first understanding and then admiration swept through the dojo. The karateka had cut away much of the board to leave the shape of the kanji for ‘sora’, read as ‘kara’ when combined with the second kanji of ‘te’. The karateka handed it to his sensei as a gift. Sensei fondled the object and noticed how well rounded and smooth the edges had been made. He ran his fingers over the blackened, varnished-wth-a-hint-of-deep-red surface and appreciated the depth of the color, understanding that several coats must have been applied to get such a well-layered finish. Finally sensei flipped the wooden kanji over and noticed a small hook screwed into the back of the artwork. Immediately he promised that he would hang it on the wall of the dojo for everyone to see. Pleased with himself, the student returned to his position in the class and began training. That one also went on to become a black belt, an instructor and a successful businessman able to support a wonderful family. He taught his children and his students to develop positive, productive life skills and he never did put any barriers up to his own growth or that of those around him.