May 11, 2007

Surprise Promotion

When I arrived at karate class tonight I was expecting some kata, waza, and maybe some self defense. After a two week hiatus due to the cess pool of germs that is my house, I was feeling rusty and anxious to get back in the swing of things. What I wasn’t expecting was a promotion, but that’s just what I got.

1st kyu feels very surreal. Surreal because I wasn’t expecting this until June or September, and surreal because my next test will be for black belt. It just doesn’t seem possible because I feel like I have so much more to learn.

I envisioned my testing for 1st kyu as very polished and a step-up from my other testing performances. But truth be told, I’ve been working on my own to learn the last two kata’s I need for Shodan and the three I needed for 1st kyu felt like they needed to be dusted off a bit.

Testing was a bit informal this time around and promotions were moved up because two of our instructors are injured enough to require surgery within the next few weeks. They didn’t know if they would be up for testing in June, so it happened now.

The only problem with tonight was Big I. We have been working on Big I’s material at home with a hopeful promotion in either June or September to green belt. With t-ball and end of the year Kindergarten activities, she hasn’t been practicing as much as she should be and she was not at all ready for green belt.

Big I has been taking karate for three years now. Tonight she watched other students who have been there for much less time get promoted to her rank and beyond. I talked to her during class, as did my instructors, and told her that she has time to learn this kata the way it should be learned and that they will test her this summer. Her response was that she didn’t want to wait; but really, that was the only thing that made sense. She’s simply not ready.

I thought she was o.k. with this right up until we got in the car to come home. Before she was even buckled she began to sob. "I really want my green belt," she cried, and I felt horrible for her. But then I told her what one of my instructor’s told me a few weeks ago. She said that when I go to black belt testing I will "take my black belt" instead of "testing for black belt" meaning that I will walk in there knowing my stuff so well that the only option is to promote me to Shodan.

I asked her how she would feel if she was given a green belt without earning it. I asked her to think about how good it will feel to get that belt after she’s tested and done everything right. After a good long cry she came around, but still insisted she was very sad.

I told her to turn that sadness into motivation to learn, so that she can go into the dojo in another month or so and "take her green belt." It was horrible as her Mom to see her so upset; but I think that she will look back on this disappointment as a very good lesson for life. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing, or how quickly anyone else is being promoted or moving along in this world. The only thing that really matters is where she’s going and how she’s going to get there. Although she didn’t necessarily choose this path for herself, in the end she will have learned about discipline, determination, and eventually, how good it feels to succeed. And that is certainly a lesson worth learning.