I woke up the other day, flipped on the TV and witnessed someone reaching deep inside themselves to reveal a sensitive, emotional, caring soul tortured by all that is wrong in the world. As this person struggled to overcome the stress of the situation and hold back the tears of frustration, I found myself thinking about two things.
The first of these centered upon public displays of emotions. I do not consider myself a cold person, but I was not raised to let emotions control my actions or influence my decisions. My father is a role model for rock steady and always a voice of reason or support in any tough situation. I am sure there were times when he felt scared, saddened or uncertain, but I do not remember a single time when he showed that side of the situation when my brothers and I needed guidance, a helping hand or calming in an uncomfortable situation. Did he inherit this trait from his parents, is it a byproduct of tougher times, a necessary characteristic of being a soldier in the Korean War, a conscious decision to raise his children to meet the demands of life or a union of all of these? I honestly don’t know the reason, but what I do know from past experience is to trust the calm, focused and confident individual who found the door out and not the person crying in the corner. I have also spent many years in martial arts and competed against numerous opponents. During the seconds we were touching gloves, I was focused on one and only one thing. If he was looking down, he didn’t want to be there, if he was raging in my face he was likely to fall victim to every feint …. but the guy who locked on to your eyes and seemingly stared right past you had a mission and a confident plan to get there and therefore … a dangerous opponent…
And then there was the second thing ….
