Jumping the Grand Canyon
Published: Thu, 06/06/13
One thing that Marc McYoung said sticks with me. Some one asked a
question along the lines of: "How can you teach someone
enough so that they can be sure of being able to defend
themselves." Marc's answer was that you can't but you
can make sure they are as prepared as possible. He described it
like trying to get across the Grand Canyon. You may not be able to
build a bridge all the way across but the further the bridge goes
the shorter the jump to the other side. Whatever the situation we
have to be prepared to make our own jump. If it comes to
self-defence you will be on your own and it will be up to you to
act, make the jump if you like. The more good training you have
had the more effective you are likely to be but it will still be up
to you to actually take the necessary action.
This doesn't just apply to martial arts of course but to every
aspect of life. It is possible to spend years and large amounts of
money studying business success but never quite taking the leap of
actually trying to make some money by selling a product or service.
Or confidence building but not actually getting around to asking
anyone on a date and so on. I guess we are all guilty of it in
some part of our life. Part of being a teacher can be knowing when
to stop holding a student's hand and say. "Go on, just do
it for yourself."
My jump this this evening is this. I went to the USA twice in the
past year, I taught, we videoed some of my lessons and
demonstrations. I have edited the footage into a 50 minute DVD.
You can see a brief trailer at
http://www.iceandfire.org/usavid.html (if you didn't see it the
other evening) and if you like what you see I suggest you order the
DVD, I will dispatch it for you tomorrow.