Lift Hands Vol 5 March 2018

"My years on this planet have been littered with violence in all its ugly forms!

I have been beaten, raped, stabbed, shot at, sliced, diced, spiked, bottled, barred, glassed, chaired, butted, stamped on, set on, shat on, spat on, chased, maced, blasted, mauled, brawled, fucked and ran out of luck."

Scott doesn’t make the above statement in order to glorify violence or his past but, to simply: “... qualify my experience and standpoint on what I believe to be a very important subject. I make no excuses or apologies for my past existence but can say, without hesitation, I have gone to great lengths to reset the balance.”

Alice Morse Earle wrote: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

That’s why it is called the present.”

I care not much about the past. It is just that - the past. Nor do I hold judgement on that which I do not know or was not part of.

I care about the man that stands before me now - in the present!

Well, in the present, as I walk into the dojo of Leicester Ju Jitsu armed with giant mudpie cookies, I see my friend prowling amongst a group of eager students, as his beautiful wife Victoria looks on from the sidelines. It takes him but a few seconds to realise that I am there watching and he rushes over with a big smile and an even bigger hug - and goes back to work.

I sit next to Vik, camera in hand, intently listening to what he has to say. In the Classical Arts, watching and listening are just as important as doing!

Have I already said that Scott prowls? Yes, he prowls - like an animal as he demonstrates, corrects and elaborates. The entire length and breadth of the dojo, every nook and cranny are his terrain! His language is simple. Nothing complex, yet it exudes intelligence and knowledge as if he is reciting the very Classics themselves!

In my 30 plus years of studying the martial arts, I have come across many martial artists who can quote the Classics but very few who can demonstrate them. Scott not only demonstrates them but, you can see that his understanding doesn’t come from an intellectual perspective alone, but far more importantly from a perspective soaked in the brutality of his existence!

I sit next to Vik, camera in hand, intently listening to what he has to say. In the Classical Arts, watching and listening are just as important as doing!

Have I already said that Scott prowls? Yes, he prowls - like an animal as he demonstrates, corrects and elaborates. The entire length and breadth of the dojo, every nook and cranny are his terrain! His language is simple. Nothing complex, yet it exudes intelligence and knowledge as if he is reciting the very Classics themselves!