I’ve often said that our time in the training dojo is finite; and whether we like it or not, we will all experience that one last opportunity to practice the art of Karate-Do. For some, it’ll be a declining level of interest, or perhaps replacement by a new hobby, while others will simply become too busy with conflicting activities. Even for those whose love of the art never wanes, however, the onset of health issues and very mortality of life will some day culminate in a final training session. This is why our (ahem) older members relish suiting up for practice and savoring the stretching/exertion/sweat that really benefits their minds and bodies. It speaks to their self-motivation, but also means that they’re still healthy enough to attend class. I hope that we never take our training time together for granted.

Speaking of time, when we hear the term, The Relativity of Time, we usually think about the legendary Albert Einstein. It was he who formulated the theories describing the relationship between the universe’s constant – the speed of light – and time itself. That, as one’s speed approaches that of light (186,300 miles per second), one’s time relative to the place that one has left behind actually slows down. Hence, all of the many, many sci-fi stories and movies about time travel. In essence, one’s time perspective is relative to one’s motion on a grand scale. Of course, the equations also predict that one’s mass will approach infinity as the speed of light is approached; thus requiring energy that also approaches that of infinity to propel one forward…all of which seems impossible to achieve. Authors and movie-makers use the idea of “warp travel” or using wormholes or some other plot magic in order to get around this problem.

When we were kids, one of my friends made up a neat little poem for a class writing project. His poem was to do with time. It was all of two sentences and he titled it, The Paradox of Time”. It went something like this, “Time – It crawls when I wait. It flies when I’m late.” We all found this to be funny, but also insightful and true, haha. Of course, my old classmate, Bert Oyama, was always both funny and bright. After high school, Bert went on to get his Masters in Engineering and has had a fine, productive career. In fact, just a couple of years ago, he was recognized as a distinguished alumni of the UH College of Engineering. Beyond being an excellent engineer, Bert is an actual inventor, holding several patents in the technical field. I do find it funny that one of his patents is called the, “Continuous Time Delta-Sigma Modulator”….ironic, eh? I mention Bert because along with Sensei Peter, Sensei Wayne and myself, he was also in our group of young KAH black belts working out at the old Puck’s Alley dojo back in the early 1970’s. I believe he got his nidan before moving onto California for grad school, where he has lived, worked (and invented) ever since.

In our mundane, everyday world, we’re stuck with time being the same for all of us, right?….Or is it? I suspect that each of us has a different perspective on time as we traverse the different seasons of life. In Hawaii, the average life expectancy is eighty years (the highest in the nation). Say we divide these eighty years into four quarters of twenty years. In the first twenty years following birth, one grows from helpless newborn to a fully functional adult at a pretty amazing pace – changes come in spurts and jumps. While one likely never grows another inch nor becomes any smarter, the next twenty sees full maturation into all of the activities and responsibilities of adulthood. If we’re lucky, the third tranche of twenty years sees more of the same and one can reach 60 still feeling and looking pretty much the same. Unfortunately, the fourth score of years, for most of us (unless you’re one of the few to reach your centennial), is our last. Like the first twenty years, this last period can also be fraught with many changes (but going the other way), both physical and mental, as we ease into old age. Doesn’t It seems to you that time moves at a different rate, depending upon what quarter of life one is in? All of your senseis (except for Sensei Trish) have begun life in the fourth quarter. For us, the next ten or twenty years is sure to bring changes and our last training opportunity may well lie somewhere within. By contrast, Sensei Trish, even twenty years in the future, will still be within the third period of life’s journey, while children in our group will actually just be reaching the prime of their lives. The same passage of years will mean different things to different members of our group. Indeed, time can be a relative thing, depending upon one’s phase of life – But also, fortunately, depending upon one’s attitude towards life. The practice of Karate-Do is known to help keep one’s body, mind, and spirit youthful despite the relentless passage of time. This is why I often think of the dojo as a place where time has no meaning.

Whenever I think about the timeless gifts that Karate-Do has provided to me over the years, I realize that I owe much of it to everyone in the dojo who shares the training experience with me. I appreciate each of you in our group that makes all of this possible.