MATE and KARATE KSN Renso Perez

THE TYRANNY OF STATUS

“I think that when black belts with Dan ranks are awarded in karate, inevitably will cause problems. This rank system will create discrimination within karate and Karateka will be judged by their rank and not by their character. It will create higher levels and inferior within the karate community, which will lead to discrimination.” -Miyagi ChojunCountless times I see around me a certain contempt on the part of Karate Masters towards students or other teachers. Normally it is a disguised contempt and with a certain irony, motivated by the idea that what is said or contributed from a "lower" stratum must be accepted by a higher stratum higher. If not, it doesn't work. I remember in particular an occasion in which a green belt karate fighter reproached a 6th Dan Karate that a certain projection that he executed was wrong because he lacked a stable base and his body structure was biomechanically incorrect. He responded with irony and contempt without even questioning whether what that green belt He said. "Well, it's just that when you're a novice, a more polished technique is required than when you we have some experience. I comply with what you say, but it doesn't show ”he reproached. Analyzing the situation, I remember thinking that the “rookie” was right, and yet I let him go. Later, in training he had to do "free combat" and we rotated between companions. The Green Belt came to be in front of that 6th Dan and something curious happened.

The experienced Master was not able to perform a technique well. Everything went wrong for him untimely, he did not arrive in his attacks and the takedowns that he tried were in something ridiculous. Of course, constantly making postures between action and action similar to those of a movie of martial arts. And let's not think badly, before many other colleagues, including high belts and with a certain important competitive trajectory, this teacher showed a clear superiority. But that one green belt did not let him rest easy. It turned out at the end of the training that this "newbie" had done Muay Thai, Judo and Grappling. for many years. However, he had only started doing Karate a couple of years ago. The "status" had completely eaten away at the teacher's ability to learn and improve. It was blind to the reality and technical diversity of the immense world of martial arts, only he having been satisfied with what karate gave him. For the self-proclamation of "master" would have prevented him from seeing beyond his own ego and being able to realize that there is always something more to learn; that you can always learn, even the most recent student can be our new great teacher... This beautiful story teaches us many things. However, I want to highlight a specific one. The

Titles or belts that organizations give out do not always denote a specific level. Many times they are awarded for training time, dedication to the organization, etc. Even if they determine a level, it is usually a comparative level with respect to the same who are in that organization. The "belt" or "title" of each one does not hang from the karategi. It is in the depths of your body impregnated and sealed by his experience and his years and types of practices. The famous Socratic phrase "I only know that it is nothing", suggests what counts here. The so-called Great Sages did not worry about continuing to learn, since they were already considered "great sages"; however, the philosopher Socrates becomes a true wise for believing himself ignorant, giving rise to a constant search for answers and explanations that finally gave him enough light to be the lamp of his his own thinking and that of his disciples. The same goes for the selfproclaimed Master and the curious student.