Tuesday, April 29

Rank, schmank

“So what does that black belt around your waist mean?”

Everybody knows about my big test and what it means to me. Hell I practically put out a press release. I have mixed feelings about the event and have generally kept them to myself, others are gladly sharing their expectations. Some friends want to be there to record the event, others have offered encouragement's and well wishes which I expected, but not the sarcasm.

Teri- who is a second degree black belt, had fun ribbing me to no end. “Hey, now that your a black belt this will be easy. Hey, did you know getting a black belt meant you are supposed to be good at this? Hey, as a black belt you should be able to-” I get it. It’s true, everyone I know is a smart ass.

Getting rank doesn’t make you an expert, to which my sensei heartily agreed. In fact I doubt I will ever be able to offer anyone advise on what to do in class and will point to the sensei and let them handle a students question.

One time my brother grilled me on my pseudo ninja techniques. ”So what do you do if someone like comes at you with a sword?” he asked in earnest.

“You get out of the way Bruce.” I answered with much eye rolling. Another time a friend asked me to demonstrate aikido for her.

“Ok, go ahead and grab my wrist.” I offered. She declined.

What have I gotten myself into?

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