Now I’m not out here to say that any martial arts organization is better than another, or to judge those people that are no longer part of an organization they once were. I happen to be very happy and loyal to my organization, but I am not here to criticize you, the reader and your choices. Rather, I am here to shed some light on the topic of loyalty.
At the end of the day, we as human beings have loyalty to someone or something in our lives. It could be our families, a religion, a cause or some other organization. You may even have loyalty to all facets I just mentioned! As long as you understand what the priorities of those are to you, then that is perfectly fine.
When it comes to showing loyalty to something, there can be times where we disagree with things or people, but at the end of the day we make reconciliations and come together for the common goal or that common passion. Oftentimes, in these groups, being together is often more important than being correct. Sure, there can be parties involved that are insistent on things, but if we focus too much on our ego and not what brought us together, we will drift apart from each other or even worse sever relationships that we have.
Maybe, indeed, an organization is not the right one for us, but my friends, we will need to find another organization whether formally or informally having close friends and allies in good will with each other. If we cannot learn these lessons, we will sever relationships continuously. When we go from organization to organization, the one thing in common is ourselves.
When a black belt looks down at their belt, commonly there are words embroidered on either side of the belt. On one side there is commonly the holder’s name. On the other side is the school or association of the holder. When I look down at my belt, I am much less impressed by the side that says David Paprocki than I am with the side that says the name of the organization. The organization holds the standards and the community, both of which are responsible for who we are when we develop.
Inspect your loyalty today. Which side of the belt means more to you? To be in happy relationships in our lives we must balance the interests of ourselves with the interests of others. Analogously, if we tie our belts the right way, each side is the same length. We give back to our roots and they continue to give to us.
