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It's been a few days if not weeks since I made an entry on the computer. Which is consistent to my approach to the martial arts. Training is sporadic at best.
Somehow this little piece of technology has become a source of inspiration encouraging me to go on with my training.
First Encounter with the Arts.
My earliest encounter with Martial Arts was with my uncle Alfred Williams, Jr.
He was always with the neighborhood childeren including them in little drills at block parties and such. "teaching" if you will, blocks, Kicks etc. He always had
some manual and would strike poses etc...but I never really paid him or it much
attention. To date however he's in his late 70's and though I rarely see him, it seems that he found his way to a dojo somewhere a source of great happines for him. He is somehwat of an enigma I suppose, in that, I have never heard of him being competitive, and I've never known him to have to fight anyone, but I've never seen anyone openly disrepect him or threaten him or beat him. At best he was pious, gracious, humble, and fearless; at his worst..............
The Love of Aikido
A seed is planted.
The only remarkable thing I note about the arts is that a brief encounter with a true practictioner can have a profound impact. Of course I could be wrong....
I went to an Aikido school on Girard Avenue in Philadelphia. It was on the second
floor with lots of window and space. And the students were rolling and spinning.
I think maybe I did a little research on which art I would like and maybe I had learned that I would like to see an art that places emphasis on circular motions
...and that's how I fould this place. I was in AWE...but I never followed up. I was in my adolescent stages, 12, 13, 14.. but that brief encounter stayed with me.
Space and Time
After I finished colloge and landed my first job...literally I was searching around for something to do with my time. Here I met a guy at work who studied tai chi. I had just read a book exploring the relationship between the Asian mind and Christianity. I was full of the theatrics of the Bruce Lee era and David Carrideans
Shoalin Priest. Based upon my coworker recommedation Tai Chi and its' slowing moving motion was my answer. i made arrangement to go to New York and I visited a school dedicated to Tai Chi. I never went back to that school. However shortly afterwards, July of 89' I left Harrisburg to go to Atlanta to become a lawyer.
Of course that was a profound experience and that Love affair lasted from 89-95 if not 98. When I literally ate, slept and dreamed about law. There was no time for anything else.
end.
Next: Life beyond the Practice of Law.
Respect for Martial Arts.
04-21-2005 07:51 AM 