AikiWeb Aikido Forums - View Single Post

Brion Toss · 02-18-2005, 06:50 PM

Hello,
Long ago, I heard that Ho Chi Minh summed up his revolutionary philosophy thus: "If you have a bent willow branch, and you want to straighten it, you have to bend it the other way." While this concept, or variations on it, have been not always been applied, um, kindly in societies, I find it very useful when dealing with the status quo. In the case of women in Aikido, we in the U.S. are dealing with not one, but two pathologically male cultures; a veritable pretzel of a willow branch.
We men, who commonly behave as though we have something to lose by equality with women, sometimes have to be dealt with firmly as the 'straightening' takes place. But it only hurts for a while, really.
Yours,
Brion Toss

02-18-2005, 06:50 PM	#61
Brion Toss Dojo: Aikido Port Townsend Location: Port Townsend, Wa. Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 106 Offline	Re: Women and Everybody Else in Aikido Hello, Long ago, I heard that Ho Chi Minh summed up his revolutionary philosophy thus: "If you have a bent willow branch, and you want to straighten it, you have to bend it the other way." While this concept, or variations on it, have been not always been applied, um, kindly in societies, I find it very useful when dealing with the status quo. In the case of women in Aikido, we in the U.S. are dealing with not one, but two pathologically male cultures; a veritable pretzel of a willow branch. We men, who commonly behave as though we have something to lose by equality with women, sometimes have to be dealt with firmly as the 'straightening' takes place. But it only hurts for a while, really. Yours, Brion Toss