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Old 10-25-2002, 02:10 AM   #1
Jeff Tibbetts
Dojo: Cedar River Aikikai
Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 142
United_States
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question that stumped me©©©

Hello everyone© I'm very new to practiced Aikido, but I've been reading about it for a very long time© I think I know a little about it, but I've been asked a question that kind of bothered me so I thought I would see what you all thought© I was telling my father ¥a middle aged conservative typical father¤ about how I had started Aikido practice, and I was trying to explain the philosophy behind it and how it's actually done© One of the first things he said was something along the lines of "isn't that like karate?"©©© This was expected and I was telling him all about the history and the idea that you should be able to help others when they try to do something they shouldn't, like attack you© It was all going fine untill he said "isn't that irresponsible? I think you have a moral obligation to stop them from going down the street and attacking someone else who doesn't know Aikido"© At first I just kind of laughed but I have to admit that from HIS viewpoint it is rather selfish© What if that person goes on to really hurt someone and I could have done more to stop them© At no point have I ever read or heard anything about this in particular, so I didn't know what to say to him© Please think about this one and help me come up with a good explanation in case anyone else asks something like this© I know it seems a simple enough question but I have a bit of a philosophical twist with it© Oh, and sorry if this has actually come up before, I haven't had a chance to read the whole board yet© Thanks in advance for your help©

Jeff
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