I have been racking my brains trying to understand some of the people posting here. The ones that seem more focused on gossip and personal things than on kung fu.
I have been in many different kung fu classes over the years. There are always a few types of students. One of the types is the kind that stands around and talks about kung fu, but never really does anything about it. They practice, but they never seem to get good. They never pay attention to the instructor and they always look real sloppy.
After years had gone by, I learned to spot these people as a regular feature of any kind of kung fu class that was a "walk in off the street" type of class. People walked in, paid money, and immediately began training. Once I understood this, I tried to avoid those kinds of classes and those kinds of people.
If you read up on kung fu, both fiction and real life kung fu stories, you will find many cases where the master refused to take the student. The master told the student no for 6 months straight. Then the master finally relented and accepted the student. When the student asked the master why it took so long, the master says "I was testing how bad you wanted kung fu".
I thought those were just stories. Then I ran into a guy who told me about a class he wanted to join. He said he went to the class and talked about joining. The instructor asked him to wait outside. The man went outside thinking the instructor wanted to speak privately.
The man waited outside the class for an hour. The instructor never came out. Finally the instructor came out and they talked. Nothing specific was ever said, but the man told me he thought the instructor was testing him. The instructor wanted to know if he was a walk in off the street person, or if he really wanted to learn. If the man was truly dedicated, waiting an hour would be a small price to pay for the privilege of learning.
Once you get to the upper levels of kung fu, they don't take just anybody. Kung fu is like anything else. You don't want troublemakers, lazies, abusers, or those not qualified to enter into a high level class where their behavior will slow down the progress of the other truly advanced students.
I joined a kung fu class once where they interviewed me. Really. First the kung fu instructor interviewed me for an hour. Then I had to interview with a group of 5 students. It was like an interrogation. Not because they were rude, but because it was odd to be questioned by 5 adversarial men to apply to a kung fu class. I had never experienced anything like it.
Then, a month later, they finally called to say their deliberations were over and I was accepted into the class. A month I spent sweating bullets and wondering if my hair looked good, did I smell bad, and did I impress them enough to be accepted?
------------------------------
I have to wonder if the talkers, the abusers, the people who do not seem interested in kung fu that I see in these threads......I have to wonder if they know about how kung fu works? Do they know that kung fu instructors weed out people like them to protect the other students who want to learn?
Do these people understand that every word that comes out of their mouth is a piece of evidence of who they are? Some day in the future, when they want to join an advanced kung fu class, someone who is interviewing them will hold out a piece of computer print out with one of their old posts on it and say "This post you made 5 years ago makes you look like an abusive person. Our kung fu class is about cohesion and people working together in a kindly and helpful way. Why should we take you as a student when you have a history, right here in my hand, of abusing people and saying bad things about kung fu? Explain to us why we should not just show you the door now."
I have been in many different kung fu classes over the years. There are always a few types of students. One of the types is the kind that stands around and talks about kung fu, but never really does anything about it. They practice, but they never seem to get good. They never pay attention to the instructor and they always look real sloppy.
After years had gone by, I learned to spot these people as a regular feature of any kind of kung fu class that was a "walk in off the street" type of class. People walked in, paid money, and immediately began training. Once I understood this, I tried to avoid those kinds of classes and those kinds of people.
If you read up on kung fu, both fiction and real life kung fu stories, you will find many cases where the master refused to take the student. The master told the student no for 6 months straight. Then the master finally relented and accepted the student. When the student asked the master why it took so long, the master says "I was testing how bad you wanted kung fu".
I thought those were just stories. Then I ran into a guy who told me about a class he wanted to join. He said he went to the class and talked about joining. The instructor asked him to wait outside. The man went outside thinking the instructor wanted to speak privately.
The man waited outside the class for an hour. The instructor never came out. Finally the instructor came out and they talked. Nothing specific was ever said, but the man told me he thought the instructor was testing him. The instructor wanted to know if he was a walk in off the street person, or if he really wanted to learn. If the man was truly dedicated, waiting an hour would be a small price to pay for the privilege of learning.
Once you get to the upper levels of kung fu, they don't take just anybody. Kung fu is like anything else. You don't want troublemakers, lazies, abusers, or those not qualified to enter into a high level class where their behavior will slow down the progress of the other truly advanced students.
I joined a kung fu class once where they interviewed me. Really. First the kung fu instructor interviewed me for an hour. Then I had to interview with a group of 5 students. It was like an interrogation. Not because they were rude, but because it was odd to be questioned by 5 adversarial men to apply to a kung fu class. I had never experienced anything like it.
Then, a month later, they finally called to say their deliberations were over and I was accepted into the class. A month I spent sweating bullets and wondering if my hair looked good, did I smell bad, and did I impress them enough to be accepted?
------------------------------
I have to wonder if the talkers, the abusers, the people who do not seem interested in kung fu that I see in these threads......I have to wonder if they know about how kung fu works? Do they know that kung fu instructors weed out people like them to protect the other students who want to learn?
Do these people understand that every word that comes out of their mouth is a piece of evidence of who they are? Some day in the future, when they want to join an advanced kung fu class, someone who is interviewing them will hold out a piece of computer print out with one of their old posts on it and say "This post you made 5 years ago makes you look like an abusive person. Our kung fu class is about cohesion and people working together in a kindly and helpful way. Why should we take you as a student when you have a history, right here in my hand, of abusing people and saying bad things about kung fu? Explain to us why we should not just show you the door now."
Comment