First off, I want to say how proud I was of everyone for finishing the run on Saturday--3 miles is a long way to run when you don't do it everyday. Good Job.
However, I also want to state how disappointed I was at the end of the run when I saw that the large group had broken up, especially after we had the discussion at the end of training the other night. While it is true that the Starlight Run is a race, Aim High's presence was not meant in that capacity. An unwritten, but not necessarily unstated part of our test as candidates is teamwork and unity. This year's Starlight Run was meant to test those two aspects--we failed.
Being a martial artist, and even more so, being a black belt is not all about the self. Sure, it can be about overcoming personal physical obstacles, and learning cool kicks, but that is not the only focus of what we should be doing this year. The Martial Arts have traditionally been about defending the self and others (note the combined responsibility of self and a group of people). While we don't necessarily have imminent threats to worry about in our society, we should still focus on the aspect of unity within a group of people that we choose to belong to.
At Aim High, we strive to "develop ourselves physically, mentally, spiritually, and with good character." What does good character mean? How does it involve the group as a whole? I think some of us have been focusing so much on the physical and individual aspects of this test, that the time has not been taken time to develop an understanding of social unity and responsibility--something that comes along with good character.
At OGA, we teach our students the 6 Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. If these are some of the qualities that make up the good character we're supposed to be developing at Aim High, I think we need to take some time to reflect on which qualities we have let fall to the wayside in lieu of selfish goals.
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