Hi Blog Readers,

 So, here's the topic of the month (one day I'll have more time to write articles...) Justice. A rather petrified group of pretesters got the brunt of this explanation a couple weeks ago, and since my tangents only come when the spirit moves me the only way to share this rant is via my blog.

 Lets start at the very beginning. When Gichin Funakoshi created his schools he wrote his Niju Kun, or 20 Laws of Karate practice. One of those laws said "One who follows Karate must also follow the way of justice". A very wise man, he knew that to create a system that would live on he must first create the people to carry it for him. Another of his Laws said "The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory of defeat, but in the perfection of character of it's participants" (yup, I did that without looking, the result of years of memorizing the requirement book!), I believe that to have a well developed character one must have an excellent sense of justice.

Now, I'm not entirely convinced that justice can be taught through reading and articles, after all, in University I had a professor who was teaching Ethics chastise a group of Nursing students for being smokers, calling them hypocrites... I agreed with her, except that said Professor was well over 300lbs.... A case of a pot calling the kettle black I think, and frankly, as someone who is trained to teach new generations how to perfect their character, it is my humble opinion that not many students received a lesson in Ethics from that particular class. I think justice needs to be learned through experience. I will however try to convey a view from both sides of the coin.

We can all remember being children, when mom or dad would dole out Kool-Aid or Smarties or some other highly desirable treat, and they would carefully measure to make sure all the children got the same amount. Heaven forbid your sister got 1 oz more than you did or you would go into a tizzy because that "wasn't fair!". That's what most of our first tastes of justice looked like. 
Unfortunately, more than a few adults have continued through their lives with this type of one sided justice, the "I only care when someone gets more than me". You've heard the people who say "They make more money than me because life's not fair!", "Why do the Johnson's get a better car than we do, we deserve just as good of a car!", and my personal favorite "How come Timmy got his orange belt before I did? I've been training longer!".
From a certain perspective this might seem understandable to be upset about, but let's shift your paradigm for a moment. The people who make more probably had to bust their butts in University for 4-7 years, and pay back some hefty student loans to get what they have. I bet they probably didn't have the amount of freedom you did at the age of 21, I bet many a night were spent studying when your nights were probably spent at a nightclub or pub. They are now reaping the rewards of MANY years of sacrifice.
The "Johnson's" probably don't order out as much, or go shopping as often as you, maybe they decided that instead of a vacation this year they wanted to purchase a nicer car. Prudence pays off.

Now to the applicable stuff, Timmy and his belt.
If I had a dime for every time I heard this (and I have heard if from full grown adults) I would have one heck of a dojo right now!

This is one I know 100% the answer too, Timmy worked harder. Maybe he didn't come to classes as long as Joey, but Timmy listened better, put more into his techniques, and showed more dedication than Joey. When I began my training with Shihan Patry he had roughly 60-70 students ranging from yellow to 1st kyu (right before black belt). I was the second student ever to receive a black belt under him. I passed at least 60 people, did I deserve it, yes. I can say that with the up most certainty. When we wrote a black belt exam I was a blue belt, I scored 89% the highest of all his students, at the time I was not even close to the highest rank in the club. The dedication I had to my art propelled me forward. However, this did not come without sacrifice. I went to a grand total of 4 high school parties and 1 dance. When I wasn't at the dojo, I was working so I could pay for my lessons or studying so I could get into University. Did I whine a begrudge the other kids their fun, honestly sometimes yes. Yet here I am now, I own one of the largest schools in Kingston. The sacrifice I made then has given me everything important to me now, my husband, a beautiful step child, the roof over my head and multitudes of wonderful people, experiences and invaluable lessons about life.

But back to the point. Justice has a positive side and a negative side. On the positive side, I passed many people because I worked for it, sacrificed for it and earned it.
On the negative side, many people did not go forward, and rightly so. They didn't study enough, work enough, care enough or show enough dedication. Justice goes both ways. People who don't work for their money don't earn it, people who don't save can't buy expensive cars and people who don't complete requirements don't move forward in Karate, at least they shouldn't....

The issue is when emotions cloud judgment, this is where the rant came from. I apologized to a few students for being unjust. I felt that maybe "Timmy" did enough even though he can't remember his knowledge, maybe he would grow into his belt. I felt heart sick at the thought of failing a child, but if I failed the adult who did just as poorly and didn't fail said child that wouldn't be just either. Thus my own dilemma. Deep down I knew better than that.
I know what happens when an instructor doesn't follow their facts and allows undeserving people to move forward.
It creates entitlement in that student, resentment in the other students, over-confidence when they become instructors and a multitude of other damaging problems when a person is propelled into a reward they didn't earn.
I have personally seen this turbulence destroy dojos, topple huge organizations and remove harmony from the group, all because someone in charge felt badly (or was too scared, I'll admit I've been there) to fail someone who deserved it. Now that I am choosing a successor to run the pretest board it's more important than ever to enforce justice so that I can pass it on to the next generation.

 I didn't come to this revelation on my own however, I had some help in the form of an excellent book. "Martial Virtues" by Charles Hackney http://books.google.ca/books?id=2XpaPgAACAAJ&dq=martial+virtues&hl=en&ei=iV8_TLhbw6CdB9a7mKoF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA

This book takes readers through a thorough examination of some of the core beliefs in Martial arts and how they can become attainable. Reading it helped me to see how very unjust I was being because I was being emotionally lazy. I didn't want to be the source of someone's pain. I didn't want to carry that burden, and as a leader that is not acceptable. So I am going to move forward and try to renew my dedication to justice.

I could have written my own book on this one, but I will leave you with one final thought, the one and only person I have ever failed due to lack of ability to perform kata has proved to me that anyone, no matter body composition, coordination or age can perform Karate properly given enough time and practice. He is also the one who I am grooming as my successor, go figure.

                                  Happy Kicking!

-Shidoin