In the last few years of his life, my dad would often lean back and exclaim, “Time waits for no man…”  Yes, Dad was the original man of deep (and trite) thoughts.  By then, in his late eighties, his eyes closed, I’m sure he could see himself when he was young, muscular, and as he would describe himself, “athletically inclined”.  Dad was also an honest, if not too humble, man.

Last Monday night, our old sensei, Shihan Kenneth Funakoshi held a rare seminar in Hawaii.  Sensei’s Wayne, Peter, Trisha and myself all attended (Sempai Kevin too).  They all trained – I trained in vicarious fashion sitting in a comfortable chair.  I apologized to Shihan in advance, and let him know that I would have loved joining in the line but didn’t want to risk re-injuring my achilles tendon. Needless to say, it was nice to see him, feel his charisma, hear his booming commands, and feel like it was 1974 in the old Pucks Alley dojo.

Shihan is the same age as Sempai James, they’ll be 79 years old this year.  Although he has aged and his legs seemed rather stiff, his great strength and confidence were still evident in his voice and piercing look.  He doesn’t have to do this.   He could easily be retired and spend his days relaxing in front of the television set or some other sedentary activity.  Instead, he still travels thousands of miles each year, sharing the gospel of Karate-Do with his many thousands of students in dojos scattered throughout the Americas and Europe.  After some seven decades in the martial arts, It has become a way of life that he will surely continue for many more years, God willing.  Walking out of the dojo, I felt fortunate to have had the opportunity to be inspired by my old sensei one more time.  I’m sure that everyone in the dojo was similarly inspired that night.  And I know, at his age, the years of incessant traveling and instruction must take a growing toll on him.  And it occurred to me that he doesn’t do it for himself, he does it for the art…and he does it for each of us.