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Old 10-10-2002, 12:45 PM   #53
opherdonchin
Dojo: Baltimore Aikido
Location: Baltimore
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 586
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I always wear my white belt to a new dojo. I don't think of it as false humility. I think of it as real humility. When I'm new to a dojo, I have no idea what sorts of assumptions people may have about my knowledge or what sorts of unshared assumptions may lead them to misunderstand my behavior. My own (honest?) assessment of my own skills says that I'll be safer if I let them treat me with kid gloves. Maybe I get stuff explained to me a little more than I need to sometimes by people whom I seriously outrank, but that's definitely not the end of the world. Sometimes it's even thought provoking.

I've even noticed that some people (perhaps including me) see a random new person with colored belts on the mat as something of a challenge or an affront.

Of course, none of that justifies your teachers behavior, Mike. It sounds to me, like it has to others, that if the teacher 'crossed a line' for you then it seems to me there is little to be gained by going back.

Yours in Aiki
Opher
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