Discipline and Respect

We always say that the only two things that Kung-Fu aims to teach is disipline and respect. Working hard to achieve our goals and pushing through when times gets tough are very good signs of disipline. However there are other ways we show disipline. One of the biggest ones I have been watching lightly is the disipline to show up for class but not just that also to show up on time. For long time now I have been a student of the art and a long time I have watched many different students not understand how important it is to show up for their class but also to be there on time. There will always be exceptions some times it becomes extremely dificult to do that which we wish we could but many other times it is just a case of the class is just not a high enough priority and showing up on time is even less of a priority.

What does that say to our selves and our instructors about our disipline and respect. To someone paying attention to such things it says a lot. It says that our class time is not valued very much and the time of our instructors is also not valued very much because we are fine about wasting both. It says even less about how much respect we have for others in our class and our selves. How much respect we show others and our instructors is a clear reflection of how much we respect we have of ourselves and those we mean to instruct. This is also a reflection of how capable we truly are as martial artists because if we choose to exhibit low disipline and respect then we choose to exhibit a low level of understanding for our own Kung-Fu.

There was no one event that has spired this blog but a growing trend I seem to see appearing in the school. We need to be dedicated to the ideals of disipline and respect in order to truly master Kung-Fu. It is often many little things that allow true mastery rather then one big thing and the little things are often what we have the most control over. Im not saying that there will never be a time when I am late or absent what I am saying is I will not let the little things stand in my way to mastery and gaining the respect of my peers through continued disipline.

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