From Start to Finish

When I was in elementary school, meetings with the teacher at conference time weren’t the greatest time for my mom. For some reason, I struggled in academics, right on through the fifth grade. I was the classic underachiever…you know, high test scores combined with terrible work in the classroom. I don’t know why that was, I didn’t mean to do poorly in class, and always looked forward to going to school. I enjoyed the teacher, my classmates, even the school lunch. Yes, for 25 cents, I could indulge in culinary delights like Spanish rice, hot dog with beans, brown bread, green beans, peach halves, milk in a carton (with the serrated circle for the straw), and too many other courses to mention. But in the classroom, I don’t know why I hardly ever did my homework and usually drew pictures to entertain the kids around me. Fortunately, we live in a society that makes school mandatory up through the twelfth grade, and my parents never gave up on me. In the sixth grade, my mind suddenly locked into school and learning, and I did well through high school, breezed through college, and finished graduate school, even while putting in 60-hour work weeks as an environmental planner in the Air Force. End of story?…not quite. A few years later, our son was to give us fits, as “Nakamoto, the classic underachiever in school, Part Deux”. Same story, except this time, it was me who was dreading the teacher conferences. I could feel Matt’s teacher studying Lynne and me, wondering whether we were supporting him in his studies (we were, honest!). Matt would consistently have the highest test scores in his grade…coupled with the lowest grades in his class. Of course, we never gave up on him either, and his academic engine finally engaged in intermediate school, and he went on to sail through high school, college and graduate school. Folks who only know us in our professional lives would never dream that we got off to such a dismal, unpromising start in school.

I know that there are many others out there who had similar slow starts before finally “getting it together” and maturing into their adult selves. Ironically, it’s even more common to see kids who start out of the box with so much promise…straight A’s in elementary school, National Honor Society in high school, class officers, then somewhere after graduation, or maybe some community college, or after the usual two years in college, lose their steam/drive/direction/dream/etc and end up in life pursuits that vary considerably from what was predicted for them as children. Don’t get me wrong, doing well in school isn’t everything; neither is pursuing a professional career. However, strong, consistent effort and learning (via others, via reading, via one’s job, via one’s relationships) should not end in school or on the job…we should make it a life-long priority to make full use of our mind, body and spirit. What is important is to know that He has granted each of us with special giftings and we have an innate obligation to try to make the best use of these. Our responsibility is to discover just what those gifts are and put them to good use, and never give up.

Everyone’s path is unique, and there are many routes to a good ending. The Lord has a special plan for each of our lives. A key thing is not to focus so much only on the end destination, but to enjoy and learn from your unique journey, while you’re in the midst of trip.

Like a broken record, I say keep on saying that karate is like that…and life is like that. Some students are naturals and pick up karate like sponges, easily able to mimic techniques with power and speed from day one. Others struggle for months struggling to learn the most basic movement. These giftings (or lack thereof) and any early success or failure, however, do not serve as good indicators of how their walk with karate will ultimately turn out. To tell you the truth, out of every 100 students who don the gi and white belt on that first day of training…just a handful will still be there, five years later, both the gifted and the not so gifted. While each may have worked his/her way to a basic competency in the art by then, what they will really share in common is a striving for improvement, an enhanced self-discipline, and the gift of perseverance. Some of the most important changes take a longer time to process. I like the metaphor of fire: it takes very little effort and time to light up a pile of newspapers; quite a bit more to light up sticks of wood; more still to light up charcoal. Yet, the flames and heat that erupt from the paper quickly die down and dissipate, almost as quickly as they began. The wood burns for quite a bit longer and is a suitable source for heat and cooking needs. Better still, is a pile of white, glowing charcoal, providing the best high, even, and long-lasting heat for cooking many trays of chicken, steaks, vegetables, and still have something left over for some roasted marshmallows. In the end, you can possess many different giftings and strengths but I believe that it is those gifts involving perseverance, humility, kindness and love, which trump all others, which means that no matter how we start out, no matter what we start off with… we can all be winners in life.

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