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The past couple of nights have finally confirmed my belief that us budoka are surrounded by masses of seriously mentally ill people. They'll take any opportunity, no matter how small, to become angry and violent. These people are only just in control of themselves even when stone cold sober.
The thing that freaks me out is when they calm down and they apologise and you can see the realisation of their own insanity.
You can see them thinking, "Why did I do that?" and it shocks them.
Then I see the way budoka handle things. The sage like grin of acceptance and indifference, the shrug of the shoulders to excuse an idiot, the politeness in the face of insult, reason in the face of aggression, the hand extended in friendship towards the guy that wants to punch their face in. Ironically it's us who are best able to smack people into the middle of next week who are most likely to try to find a peaceful solution.
Then when all that fails the resolute calm with which a budoka faces their opponent contrasts heavily with the rage and anger of their opponent.
12-30-2009 10:05 PM 