I am a miserable failure.

I battle the twin foes of apathy and cultural decadence. A culture that says it is OK to want more than you need. A culture that permits children to eat edible non-food products and advertise those products to them mercilessly while lying about the healthful nature of those products. A culture that makes it OK for adults to take a pill to sleep, another to wake up, another to feel better and another to get it up when necessary. And sell those products in a mass medium that actually creates diseases that never existed before. A culture that promotes rudeness, crass attitudes, rewards bad behavior and glorifies laziness. And no one seems to care.

Actually it seems people like me are the problem. That I and other like me are some strange insects flitting around the head of the elephant waiting to get smashed for their impudence. When I exhort people to exercise more, eat less, clean up their diet…I get:

It’s too hard…It hurts…Why? No one else does it…I can’t stay motivated…I’m bored…It’s not fun…Eating healthy food doesn’t work for me…If I quit smoking I will get fat (better to be a skinny corpse)…If I quit drinking all my friends will leave (great friends who want you to pickle yourself)…Blah blah blah blah

Enough already! I used to smoke. Quitting was difficult. I used to drink—a lot. Not doing it as much was difficult. I used to eat an apple fritter every morning for breakfast…Imagine…an apple fritter, a cigarette and a cup of coffee for breakfast! Changing those habits was difficult. Making time for a workout everyday was trying. Putting good things in my mind required an effort and work. Shutting off the TV was taxing. All of this stuff is simple. Not Easy, just simple.

But you know what? Hard is watching your child die from starvation. Hard is going to work in the fields at age 5 to help support your family. Hard is not going to school because you have no shoes. Hard is walking miles every day to get fresh water for your family. Hard is a lot of things but it isn’t what we think of as hard. And hard certainly isn’t working out or eating right

How many times this week did you say you were hungry? Or that you or someone else was starving? Guess what? You and I are so far from starvation that it is probably not possible. As a matter of fact we are so far from real hunger that we should abolish those words from our vocabulary.

It hurts? Working out doesn’t hurt, eating right doesn’t hurt, quitting smoking doesn’t hurt. Hurt is losing a limb to gangrene. Hurt is starving to death. Hurt is being left for dead on a battlefield somewhere. Hurt is the pain a parent has when their child dies a slow death from a preventable disease. Hurt is what happens in a death camp.

How about bored? Boring is being locked in a closet for days. Boring is sitting, hoping, and waiting for 3 days for a bus to take you to visit a dying relative. Bored is having nothing to read, no one to talk to and no hope for any change.

I am rich. You are rich. The poorest among us are richer than 98% of the world. We have so many opportunities and abilities and things that we lose sight of the many gifts and presents we have been given. What are you doing with the gifts, skills and talents you have been given? Complaining about the stuff you don’t have? No time? You got the same 168 hours I got this week…as a matter of fact everyone in the world got the same 168 hours last week. Those hours are the one thing you can never get back. Ever. They are now gone forever. How did you spend them? How much time did you spend complaining about stuff you do or don’t have, the spouse you do or don’t have, or the things you did or didn’t do. A minute, an hour, a day…how long really? Much too much whatever it was.

What am I going to do about it? I am going to put my uniform on tomorrow, stand in front of you and teach, talk, and act like you are going to get it. Because you are, I know you are. And you are going to join me in fray, in the noble effort and together we will change the world. Won’t we.

Namaste

John

“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”

www.martialartsnevada.com

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