Fight Club

I am sure everyone is aware of the CBC story of the fight club in Spruce Grove. Violence and bullying are unfortunate aspects of our society that we all have to deal with in one way or another. The particulars of this situation have created a lot of outrage, anger, and fear in our community. It is important that we apply logic to any response or we run the risk of promoting the very thing we are fighting against.

Traditional, I repeat, TRADITIONAL martial arts teach character, humility, and compassion. They do not just teach how to physically defend yourself. I know some of the modern "martial arts" advocate not teaching someone of questionable character. Their logic? "It will make them dangerous". They could not be more wrong. Martial arts builds character. If all they existed for was to eliminate weak character, what value would they hold? If your activity is making people dangerous, it is not a martial art. Violence does not end violence. It just perpetuates the problem. Building character and confidence gives people alternative outlets when their ego is challenged. Learning a traditional martial art does not make a person dangerous. Everyone, whether trained or not, is capable of violence in the right circumstance. Those circumstances are determined by the strength of your character which determines the choices you make. Traditional martial arts takes people of weak and questionable character and, over time, teaches them humility while giving them the confidence and self esteem they need to make intelligent and compassionate decisions.

Creating bullies to combat bullies is not the solution, eliminating bullies is.

"We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You're always helping people." - Jackie Chan (b. 1954)

Jeff Brinker