Many years ago, someone – it may have been my Shorin-Ryu sensei – said that “Life is kumite” – that is, combat. In my mind, that conjures an image of someone blocking, striking, and kicking against multiple opponents from different directions – someone constantly alert, clear-headed, and responsive.
That image has never left me – and as the years go by, it seems more and more relevant. “Kumite” sounds a lot like “multitasking.” It sounds better in German – “Das Leben ist Kampf” – life is struggle.
Sometimes, for all of us fighting for the existence and well-being of our people, the odds seem to be stacked against us. We have not yet learned to love ourselves, to value that wondrous thing that we are, and to work for our high Destiny. But we are rousing from our slumber, albeit gradually. As we learn to love our ancestors, and to value the inheritance – cultural, biological, historical – that they left us, our Awakening will accelerate.
Learn to love the struggle! If we do it right, it earns us satisfaction, even a sense of inner joy! And as Herr Nietzsche noted in his famous quote, “it makes us stronger.” At the end of the road lies victory. Or as Jost Turner wrote in a song, “Fight your battles and dare the odds, drink your mead and praise the Gods…”
What have you done for our Folk today? For the memory of our ancestors? For the honor of our Gods and Goddesses? For the future existence and well-being of our people?
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