We Laughed, We Fought, Nobody Cried

Goodbye to Kenpo Month




Hopelessly outnumbered, King Aragorn sought to inspire his men against what seemed like sure defeat against the swarming hordes of their hellish enemies. Riding in front of his gathered, but rather lowly army, he shouted, "I see in your eyes the same fear that would break the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends, and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day.

This day, we fight!’

- J.R.R. Tolkien



June 1st is finally here. Kenpo month is now officially over. The question remains. What will happen now?

One of the principles I learned in martial arts, and other philosophies, is that I show what I truly am by my own actions. That is living your Way, not simply talking about it. It is not always as important to provide evidence about what you are against, as it is to represent what you are FOR in the world. Many would tell you it is far more important to show what you are for in your actions as an example to others. This is positive movement and in the spirit of contributing .

On May 19th Kennethpo posted a very well thought out response to the ups and downs of Kenpo Month entitled The Truth. Kennethpo makes several good points including that the statement on the UKA website invites martial arts people of all kinds to join and participate. I would like to add one thing to Kennethpo's well thought out response. There were posts for Kenpo Month like I have not seen for awhile. On a very good website quantity can be nice, but I prefer quality any day in most areas. There were several great posts by many people during the month too. To get a good website going, you only need a good handful of people making intelligent, thoughtful posts, and the rest naturally follows. The worst case scenario is having ten good posters discussing interesting subjects together that are stimulating to read.

The bottom line is that Kenpo Month can allow all posters to post and kenpo people can still represent who they are with kenpo posts 24/7. In this way no posts, interest, or membership would be lost from the site. Opposing views can be seen as adding to discussions and subjects rather than win/lose situations. Websites need posts as well as posters so active movements can be set up in a way that is becoming more unheard of in the world... A fight for the everyone wins situation. As Kennethpo puts it about posting kenpo, "How about next month we start an infinite amount of months of 24/7..."

Most of us are brought up with certain ideals personal, cultural, and even some passed on to us through our martial arts schools. Do you represent freedom? Respect? The Way? Every day, in all ways each of us has the opportunity to show where we are really coming from. Some individuals in the world can accomplish this even under very difficult and the most horrible of situations. I read about them and wonder how they have the strength to make such sacrifices to really show what they believe in.

Do I think Kenpo Month is a success? Yes I do. Any movement in a positive direction is successful. There were many great posts and chances are, some of us learned something. About the only real casualty I know of from May is Sherman Bergman. Rumors abound about this predicament. First there is the post FREE SHERMAN BERGMAN and now I hear he is suffering from injuries. Could that possibly be a coincidence? It is just like the Bruce Lee cover-up. I blame Shaolin killer monks. ;-)



Now I am know about as much about gang speak as anyone from suburban Connecticut speaking NBC English might, but I thought I would add this about "representing." We hear it all the time in many places in our lives.




Represent means to represent your hood... ur home town... something of that sort... representing is like showing off where ur from...
WASSAAAAAAAAAAAA, ...where are u from?
---Quoted from the Urban Dictionary



Congratulations to the people who came out for Kenpo month to participate and contribute. You show us where you are from! Let us hope there is more.



EvonneTheStoryteller
Retired Faux Hostile Press Reporter