Joe is a seventeen-year-old who has been training for more than two-thirds of his life. As he eludes to, he doesn’t remember a time when he was not a Potomac Kempo student. Recently, we had the honor to promote him to Second-Degree Black Belt, an honor that only a handful of others have achieved before graduating high school. We are very proud of Joe and are excited to see all of the great things he will accomplish in life with this solid Kempo-based foundation.
Kempo has had an immense effect on my life, and I can confidently say that I would be a very different person without the experiences I have had at the dojo. Physically, of course, the practicing of Kempo is the source of much of my exercise, keeping me healthy and fit. This, however, in my opinion, is overshadowed by what Kempo has taught me about life. There are so many real-life lessons that I have learned from my training that I cannot possibly recount them all, so I will share with you a few of the ones that I think are most important. First, there is always a way to improve anything you are working on. Whether it is Kempo two or differential equations, there is always going to be someone who is better at it than you, and if you listen to them, you will improve. This teaches us humility and the value of having a teacher.
Another thing I have learned from Kempo is that to become good at something you need more than the effort put in; you need commitment, enthusiasm, and friends to help you along your journey. The amount of these things I have had has varied along my Kempo journey, and this has shown in my progress. Kempo taught me the importance of these factors, and now I strive to find them in all projects that I pursue. Finally, Kempo has gone even beyond teaching me simple lessons, it has altered my outlook on life. I cannot truly say what I would be without Kempo because I barely remember a time before I started training, but I know that Kempo has taught me patience over the years. And that putting in lots of effort for a distant reward is worth it eventually. It takes practice to remember a Kempo, even more, to be able to do it well. The same is true for life and Kempo helped to demonstrate this for me beyond what other experiences ever could.
Thank you for teaching me,
Joe
