As much as I despise social media and all the narcistic posts, photo uploads, and all that other “look how cool my lip pouting is” garbage out there, on my own little newsfeed today, a “memory” picture popped up of something I uploaded several years ago. It was only 3 years ago today that the following picture was taken, however these two students are unfortunately no longer training with us. Not due to the sudden vanishing Houdini act that we have often experienced, but because of work commitments interstate and overseas.
These two friendly, kind-hearted gentlemen along with a handful of others had actually started training with us long before our appointment as official Australian OGKK branch lah di dah B.S. It got me thinking. Thinking about how if employment commitments hadn’t prevented them from continuing training with us, how accomplished they would be today. Physically and mentally speaking, neither factor seemed as challenging as it would be for the majority of karateka out there – you just knew they would be able to reach the summit if further time was spent training. It does seem like a waste of talent that such potential is unfulfilled. I guess with being a teacher of any kind, seeing students come and go goes part and parcel – rather unfortunate and sad at the same time. Just like in our dojo in Oki, students coming and going is simply a part of life, we cannot control other people’s actions or lives, but the ones worth teaching and training with, will always be welcomed back!