Contemporary Zen 3

When the Dragon Prevails
Written by KenpoNomad.

A member of our little organization has a brother.        In fact, his brother is going to be the major theme of this little rant, which may not be as funny as usual, but still thought provoking.  All of us at Dragon Tales and the other organizations have known both this individual and his brother for a very long time so this is not a biased, uninformed discussion on the pros and cons of siblings.  Merely an observation of how both life and Kenpo can show their true colors in rather odd ways.  For those of you who think of Kenpo and the martial arts as only the breeding ground for fighting and increasing your ability to kick butt, this story ain't for you.        A story was related to us by our associate about an encounter between himself and his brother, but first a little background on the situation.  Our associate is a good guy;  a bit of a smart aleck and rather quirky.. allright he's an a$$, however not when it counts.  All around a genuinely good human being.  Granted, he has been trying some honest attempts at pacifism in recent years, but that can't be helped.  And after hearing his story of what took place between his brother and him, his pacifism kinda took a lapse.  Now for his brother, who can be best described as indescribable.  Now let me repeat, this is simply an opinion from someone who has been there and the opinion of everyone (and we mean EVERYONE) with half a brain who has ever met him.  To say the individual is pure evil would be to say he has intellect over a pre-schooler.  Everyone who has ever met him might have liked him, possibly even tolerated him upon first impression;  yet when they get to know him completely despise him with every ounce of their being.  This, by his own admission, he does on purpose for some Freudian reasoning that is not only off base, but clearly not what he is doing.  It is simply his loathsome personality at work.  And to top it all off, he was recently inducted into the Marine Reserves, which at one point was thought to have potentially done him some good.  Much to our associates despair, it did more harm then good.  Now not only is he loathsome and offensive, now he is louder and more obnoxious then ever.  The only thing that really changed is apparently he treats everyone like he is their drill sergeant.  Which is fine if you are IN the military.  If you are not this behavior holds about as much water as a thimble with a hole in it.        Now for the story that has changed our associate quite a bit.  He had finished moving home to go to college with his wife (also a talented martial artist and associate within Dragon Tales), and found himself looking for a job.  Realizing his brother would attempt (and probably succeed) in monopolizing the phone, our friend felt it would be in everyone's best interest if he were to limit his phone time while on one of his many leave times.  I tell ya, for being in the military this guy has more leave time then Congress.  I actually thought he was a teacher for a moment.  So when his brother arrived, our associate asked that his phone time be a little more limited then usual due to their job hunting. You know, since he was visiting and they were actual residents who were more then planning to pay rent when a job was found.  Granted, he made this request in a rather smart-alecky manner, but it was the same smart-alecky manner he had been using for oh..let's just say a long time.        Well, rather unexpectedly, his brother went into a rage unparalleled in history.  Although we have discussed many of the rage induced arguments they had in the past which we won't get into, but this one was truly without equal.  Suddenly this man was discussing beating our associate within an inch of his life for his disrespect in a tone so loud the neighbors could hear.  He screamed and yelled that he was being disrespected in HIS OWN HOUSE on his vacation, and that he was going to be dealing out any bit of violence, i.e.: beating, shooting, stabbing, etc. that he would find acceptable.  He stated our associate was freeloading at his parents house (a little contradiction there I think), and that he would no more find a job then he would sit around the house and mooch off his parents.  And if our associate didn't leave him alone, there was going to be trouble and he would have our associate thrown out of HIS parents house.        Now I am sure you are wondering where this is leading, so here is the punch line (almost literally if it weren't for the fact our associate is an almost pacifist).  Our associate, one of the founding members of Martial Fusion, and head-writter at Dragon Tales, is a rather accomplished martial artist.  More importantly, an instructor of fair rank in American Kenpo.  As we have stated, we have met his brother who also attained some rank in American Kenpo, purple going on blue belt to be exact.  However, as another of our associates mentioned, his kenpo was quite similar to the  movements of a pregnant yak in the summer sun.  We can say that now due to his quitting to become a Marine and made his feelings known about something that, in his opinion, is an incomplete and useless art.  Given his feelings and knowing his brother, during his rage made it quite clear he had no fear of his brother nor his Kenpo ability.  Which, although good for our associate, wasn't truly fair.  As good as our associates brother could ever get, both his wife and himself could've and probably should've moped up the floor with his brother and not broken a meager sweat.  Now myself, I would have shoved my foot so far down his throat he would have flatulated shoestrings for the rest of his days.        But he didn't, although he has no idea why he didn't.  We know, but we aren't telling.  You see, everyone has a "anger button," something said, or done that enrages all of us beyond rational thought.  And our little pacifist's button was pushed repeatedly by this man.  Not only does getting in his face in this way push the button, but GENUINELY threatening him or his family really pushes that button.  And he will be the first to admit that after the button was pushed, he verbally pushed back.  He wasn't as loud or abrasive, he was simply more honest towards his brother then I think anyone has ever been.  He would also admit that he almost prayed that his brother would respond and give him the chance to do the Kenpo Can Can on jar-head.  For those who don't know, the Kenpo Can Can is where you kick someone who desperately needs it until your legs get tired, then punch him until your arms get tired and go back to kicking.  Or better yet, the Ball Room Blitz, which we aren't going to go into here.  It's entertaining though.  Then, as suddenly as he started, he stopped, and left his brother's presence.        You see, he is a Kenpoist at heart and soul.  Sure he and his wife train their bodies to hit with maximum efficiency and little effort, but even she will agree that he is a "Kenpo Lifer" to a strange degree.  And he's mellowed out considerably over the years.  But he stopped, and he did so because he is a Kenpoist. And because he could have accomplished with ease all of the things he had been trained to do with little or no effort.  As he stated, "it wouldn't have even messed up my hair."  He didn't stop out of fear of his brother and what he and his vast military hand to hand training could have done.  Our associate stopped because of fear towards what he was GOING to do to his brother.  And although no one can argue that it quite possibly should have been done to a degree, and that someday, someone will take it upon themselves to do what our associate wanted to, inherently he knew THAT way was the wrong way for him.        So know they have moved back to their previous residence, much to the unhappiness of his parents, who I might add did nothing about this situation.  Yet, as our associate stated and his wife agreed, "What my brother did and generally does is wrong.  You won't throw him out and we will not stay near him.  And I am not about to pull a "it's either him or me" pile of garbage (ok he didn't say that, we are paraphrasing because we want this to be clean).  So we left, but not out of fear of my brother or that we sure learned we wouldn't talk to him like that again, but because my pacifistic will might not last forever."  Besides his wife isn't a pacifist at all, and she really didn't appreciate seeing her husband threatened.  For those of you reading this in any of the martial arts, be mindful of what they actually teach, not what you get in the classroom and technique lines or katas/forms.  There's a lot more to it then simple motion or adverse violence.  And if this is the kind of representation we are getting in our military service, we might be in trouble.  We, for one, hope it is not.  Even though realism generally wins over wishful thinking, and in this case wishing on shooting stars won't do any good. Although this is just my impression, I could be mistaken.