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Old 10-31-2010, 12:55 PM   #150
Ryan Seznee
Dojo: Does it matter?
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 102
United_States
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Re: Is two Days a week enough?

Quote:
Rabih Shanshiry wrote: View Post
I think it's incubment on an instructor to give any student a reality check if they discover that training is jeopardizing their family life or financial well-being. That's pretty much the definition of addiction. If someone ignored the advice and abandonded their family to practice Aikido, they would not be welcome in my dojo until the situation was rectified. If you wish to dedicate your life to the art, that's wonderful - but not at someone else's expense.
All training is at someone else's expense, though. You could take that hour you spend at the dojo and spend it with your wife, children, parrents, put more hours in at work to make your household more profitable, time at the local church or community center, or even going to feed starving children in Africa. You are choosing not to invest it in those areas. You are choosing not to strengthen those relationships, do those good things, or even not take some *me* time. I think it is completely irrational that an average american spends 18 hours watching TV and can't find more than 2 hours a week to train and thinks that they are a serious student (which was what precipitated this conversation).

It is alright to be a family man. It is a GOOD thing to love your family, but it is possible to be a good parent and an aikidoka. I have known people that can pull it off, and I have met their wives and children who don't complain. Why do you think that you are so special that you have a busier life than all of the people who are now shihan?
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