This quote is on the dojo wall and it keeps me reminded of my responsibility as a teacher. It's also a reminder of the teachers I have and have had. Of course our teachers present themselves as soon as we enter this world. Parents and families are our first teachers. Good, bad or indifferent, they are the first impressions we have or our world and we learn from them. As a parent it is our responsibility to keep in mind, we are not raising kids, we are raising future adults. Ultimately a parents job is to develop independent, responsible, contributing citizens.
To step into the teaching arena is to take up a responsibility that reaches into areas that one cannot be aware of. We teach the way we know how, the way we learn how to. Improvements upon our abilities are as vast, as long as we keep an open mind. When we choose to teach, our responsibilities are immense and our influences boundless.
In the core system of martial arts studied, my instructor was very much militaristic and patriarchal. It was a traditional style. That was the only way it was suppose to be. Period. Evolution was not an option. To evolve was betrayal. In a school where questioning the master was unacceptable, demise was inevitable. The goal of the dojo is to appease and impress the instructor.
When I left the system, I had no idea where my skills would lead me. I had no concept of how valuable my martial education was. I had no reality of the depth of learning I had obtained. That education and training alone, opened the doors to train and learn from so many others.
So basically, my core instructor paved the way for me to come into the graces of further education with other wise masters.
