Trust - Honor - Integrity

Oddly enough, two of my black belts sent me this the same day. These guys are from two different parts of the country. They both have many years of experience. Apparently they, like me, have "some concerns" about the subject. The article is by Terry Bryan. Please read on.

Trust. Honor. Integrity. These are words talked about in the martial arts but not understood by many.

Greetings,
Man do we live in a different world than the one I grew up in. I was raised in the hills of Tennessee and business was done with a hand shake and almost everyones home was left unlocked. In the old days a persons word was their bond and daily behaviors were based on trying to build and maintain a respectful recognition for the family name.

In combat, it was the pure sense of knowing that your buddy had your back that allowed me to survive three tours in Southeast Asia, and that bond created by being with someone in combat is priceless. That trust was understood, never talked about and shared with a simple glance, maybe a wink or a high five.

I just don't know about the black belts we are producing today. Do they have the same stuff thy once did and who's fault is it? Are we promoting too soon? Are we giving away the rank without the true tests it takes to see the character and commitment? I guess these are just the mysteries of the mind, aren't they?

I recently had one of my black belts give me his two week notice, open another school only a couple of miles away and took most of the students to come train with him. He even went on to steal a contract with a school district that we had been teaching at for over 6 years. Now granted we had an instructor's agreement with a non-complete clause, and I could probably win a law suit, although he couldn't pay the damages if I did.

But the point is, I would have never even considered doing that to one of my teachers. Over the last 40 years I have trained with the likes of Pat Burleson, Fred Absher, Jim Mather, Dan Smith and a host of others and I have been loyal to them from the first day I took them on as a teacher. They know if they needed something all they would need to do is pick up the phone and call.

In the 60's and 70's it was a great accomplishment just to enter a tournament and survive, now days people invent tournament wins and titles just to impress others. In the early days, anyone that earned a black belt was a person you could respect and had fortitude. I am not so sure that is true any more. What can we do today, to make sure that character and integrity are passed on to the next generation? I am not sure - maybe we will just have to wait and see.
To Your Success,

Terry Bryan

I've read some of Mr. Bryan's writings and they always make sense to me. I have the same sort of feelings he does about this subject. I've experienced the back-stabbing students both in Chicago and down here in Florida. I remember Ed Parker telling me flat out that he didn't really trust anyone since he had been ripped off by trusted people too often. His wife told me Mr. Parker was a soft touch and that she thought he placed his trust in the wrong people too easily. A lot of new guys don't know that Ed Parker lost 10 of 11 schools and almost lost his house way back when. He had a business manager for his chain of schools who took the tax money and ran, leaving Ed Parker to pay the IRS. There were other instances as well, but the end result was that he didn't trust too many people in his last years.
I am of the opinion that we're seeing more of this due to the cultural shift we've seen since the 80's. I've witnessed the changes as they are manifested in the classrooms of schools and karate studios. or any place they work with kids a lot. My dance teacher friend, CC, who is just a bit younger than I, sees the same things. In my conversations with school teachers, they agree as well.
Part of that shift is the change to a "no rules" or "extreme" this or that attitude. Young boys treat their female counterparts badly. The language is appalling. And they are committing violence on these girls of more frequency and intensity than ever before (read Grossman's book titled On Combat for more on that). Watch the home videos of these kids imitating the pro wrestlers and that Jackass stuff. No rules? No brains.
The bottom line is that some of the niceties that make us civilized are breaking down or evaporating. Therefore, we see stuff like disrespect for parents, guns in schools, and students taking advantage of their karate teachers.
Mr. Bryan's column hits one of my hot buttons, and I could go on. In fact, I will go on in a later blog. I'll address the disrespectful student for two reasons; 1) as a lesson for the next generation of instructors and 2) to vent.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Bryan.