Article: Behind the Reflection by Paul Schweer

Discuss the article, "Behind the Reflection" by Paul Schweer here.

Article URL: http://www.aikiweb.com/columns/pschweer/2004_05.html

It seems like there are common threads running through many of the columns.

Paul, while we others explicate with essays from -- no matter how heartfelt -- the fronts of our brains, you offer us a narrative in the finest storyteller's tradition. It was evocative and made me want to cry, and I don't think any of the rest of us have offered that to our readers.

I thank you for the gift.

Paul, every time I have read this, it crawls deeper into my consciousness. Thanks for being who you are.

I was disappointed by the lack of a climax involving a slow-motion shootout with Greg in a hall full of SWAT teams.

Very touching... Maybe that's what training really is about. Train and train, just to get to the point where you can be yourself withour fighting it so much.

This story was edited by Susan Dalton. Without her hard work and nearly infinite patience, it would have never seen the light of day.

Thank you, Susan.

Paul Schweer

Wow....

I just finished reading this story, but I will probably have to read it several times in order to feel I understand it.

Not at all what I expected from an Aikiweb column, and I almost didn't bother to read it at all, but once I started I just couldn't stop.

So many unanswered questions.... strange... haunting....

Thank you.

Whenever there is a crisis there is an opportunity much like a door to be opened and walked through. This can be compared to the "doors" that we open during an aikido technique. There has been during the past week three deaths that have effected someone in my department at work. One of these deaths actually occurred at work. The gentleman that died had a heart condition since childhood. He should have never made it past sixteen according to the doctors. He was fourty six. So every day for over thirty years he opened a door and walked through it. Last Monday he walked through a different door. Only he knows his opportunities now. Learn to recognize your doors. Open them and walk through. This story is one of many things that have helped to ground me lately.

Very melancholly, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very original.

Ian

I hope Greg is ok now, or at least confident at working at it. I also hope I get to train with you someday, and maybe have a beer or a cup of coffee afterward.

Thanks for that,
Ron

Ron Tisdale wrote: I also hope I get to train with you someday, and maybe have a beer or a cup of coffee afterward.

Well... for what it's worth, I plan to attend the Aikiweb Workshop in August. Is there beer and coffee in Greensboro?

Best to you and yours,

Paul Schweer

Teachers and students like Uke and Nage, one then the other, ever changing.


Dennis