"Differential Diagnosis"

Fertile soil without a purpose is a wasted patch of dirt, but planting a seed in such soil ties one down with responsibilities for that seed. Sure, its easy to walk away from that responsibility and not care less if the seed flourishes, but I take personal satisfaction in cultivating, trimming, and assisting these seeds blossom.

Do I have a green thumb? Nonsense, I had a difficult time keeping a cactus alive in a dessert! The seeds I???m referring to aren???t plant seeds, but rather the aspirations of my fellow man. Their hopes, their dreams, their goals, their ideas, I enjoy watching them become a reality.

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A troubled young man walks into a martial arts studio, eyes avoiding contact with anyone, while images of Bruce Lee & Jackie Chan dance in his head. He wants to be like them, leaving a trail of mangled bodies everywhere he goes, a real badass???the seed is already planted in him.

In a few months time, he has learned just a fraction of the art, but he is already a changed man.? He no longer wishes harm upon his enemies, his eyes no longer avoid your gaze, and the images of Bruce Lee suddenly attain a new meaning.

No longer does he watch kung-fu films simply for the ass-kicking glory, but rather to analyze the techniques and lessons employed by the characters on screen. Yes, the action in the film is fake, but the martial arts and lessons in them is derived from truth.

Its never an easy journey for the seed to fully blossom, layers of heavy soil must be broken through before the light of day shines upon the sprout. Unfavorable weather will test the sprouts resilience, bugs will tear away at its defenses, and other plants may try to starve it of resources. But when the flower finally blossoms, its beauty will shine like a beacon and hopefully serve to inspire a sprout to blossom as well.

The mind formulates a perception of self and also controls the body???s actions. Its when your heart, mind and body are in sync when you truly blossom to your full potential. Techniques, style, methods, purpose, these are the things that help focus my mind to achieve my best. Techniques color this grand blossom???

1. andhari says:

   February 27, 2009 at 10:18 pm

   What a determination.

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2. anne says:

   March 2, 2009 at 11:48 am

   wow, your a good writer.. should make a book =P

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3. Attainingme says:

   March 2, 2009 at 11:30 pm

   this is absolutely beautiful and your words are so true. Now, if everyone could learn how to apply them.

   xxd

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4. ScoMan says:

   March 3, 2009 at 3:02 am

   Seeds come and go quite often throughout our lives. Whether it’s martial arts or learninig an instrument or another language.

   It’s the seeds that make life interesting. If we didn’t have the passion and the drive to master new things, life would be very dull indeed.

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5. Unbreakable says:

   March 6, 2009 at 1:03 pm

   I wish most of us would allot the seed that was planted in us by our parent to blossom and be fruitful, we opten get sidetract by the dirt that covers our seed and ask when will we see the light of day, this is exactly why we are going through in this economic cirisis, we all ask when are we going to see the light of day in the form of normalcy in the housing and financial market.

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6. Stephanie says:

   March 6, 2009 at 7:04 pm

   You’re a good writer! You have to admit, it might be fun to give some annoying creep a karate chop, right?

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7. Krys says:

   March 8, 2009 at 2:21 pm

   Sorry I haven’t been around in a while!! I just caught up on your posts. This one is beautifully written! Great job!

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8. “Differential Diagnosis” » The “Fat Man” to my Nagasaki says:

   April 7, 2009 at 8:30 am

   [...] I had to find a way to release my anger, and I had just the thing.  A troubled young man walks into a martial arts studio… [...]

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9. floreta says:

   April 23, 2009 at 10:29 am

   “The mind formulates a perception of self and also controls the body’s actions. Its when your heart, mind and body are in sync when you truly blossom to your full potential.”

   Perfect.
   I can see the similarities between this and my poem..
   I love the ‘blossom’ metaphor. I ain’t no gardener either, but I like to cultivate life..

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10. “Differential Diagnosis” » Archive: Sometime in 2009 – "Hibikoreshoujin, kokoro wo migaku!" says:

    December 14, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    [...] My mind, so focused on various objectives and martial arts has grown strong, and it has instilled in me a strong sense of self and determination unbreakable by any challenge. [...]

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