“To enlighten and evolve through the art of Kenpo”
| Volume 13 |
April 2008 |
Issue 1 |
From the President...
From
the President...
by Bryan Hawkins, President, UKS
"Thermostat or Thermometer"
I’ve always taught that being a Kenpoist is much more than being a skilled fighter. In fact, using one’s fighting skills is the last alternative we would employ in a physically-threatening situation. As Kenpoists, we must always use the scholarly aspects of our Kenpo arsenal to defuse an aggressive situation before it reaches its ultimate potential of physical self-defense.
For a number of years, I worked as a bouncer and bodyguard and found that my skill as a verbal communicator was tested far more often than my physical skills were ever put to use. This was certainly not by chance, but by my choice to try to de-escalate confrontations before they got out of hand.
The truly wise Kenpo practitioner would do well by seeing himself as a thermostat as opposed to a thermometer. A thermometer, as we know, simply will give a reading of the existing condition or temperature of a room, whereas a thermostat can actually adjust and control the temperature of a room.
Ed Parker, truly one of the most revered martial artists of the 20th Century, taught me to always approach any situation with a smile and a handshake. From personal experience, I know that it can be extremely difficult to smile and be diplomatic in the face of verbal aggression, when the more natural instinct would be to strike. There is special skill in learning how to suffer fools. We need to develop and nurture this skill because there are a great many fools that we will inevitably encounter throughout our lives. So let us all strive to be a Kenpo thermostat and not a Kenpo thermometer.