Saturday, January 31, 2009
Life Lesson
Earlier today I had my match and we ended in a draw. It was three rounds of the most brutal fighting ever seen on Earth. Ok, maybe not, but it was good fun. I would say we were even in the first round, he won the second, and I won the third. He came out aggressive in the second and tried to stay close to me and even though I landed a few punches, he scored a few more good points in the second with his punches. His punches felt like bricks when they landed. Not sure what he thought about my punches. In the third I used my strength, which is my legs. When he tried to come in close again I caught him off guard with a well-timed kick, which kept him at a distance the rest of the round. That allowed me to score some well-placed kicks and gave me the advantage in the round.
Throughout the day, every match was declared a draw. Some of us started looking at each other and wondering how that could be when one was clearly better than the other? I quickly realized that as long as you met your competition, it didn't matter how good or bad you did, you would be rated a draw for your efforts. But I didn't realize the deeper meaning until the teachers began to speak after all the matches ended. As we found out today, from those wiser than us, today was not about determining winners or losers.
Throughout the day, every match was declared a draw. Some of us started looking at each other and wondering how that could be when one was clearly better than the other? I quickly realized that as long as you met your competition, it didn't matter how good or bad you did, you would be rated a draw for your efforts. But I didn't realize the deeper meaning until the teachers began to speak after all the matches ended. As we found out today, from those wiser than us, today was not about determining winners or losers.
How many of us have watched others practice their techniques and thought "I can do that form better than he can" or "my running front kick is better than hers"? The problem is that this thinking is based on the idea that training is a competition between students to be the "best". It is not surprising that many people feel this way, because society places so much emphasis on "winning", as opposed to the personal self-enrichment of the activity. This idea that winning is the most important thing and that the winner takes all may have a place in professional sports, because a professional sport is not a game; it is a business.
The attitude of being the "best" or even "better" than others has no place. Other schools foster this attitude because they teach martial arts as a sport with competitions and tournaments. There is no philosophy behind this manner of teaching except "winning". In these schools, the ego of the "winner" grows and he or she becomes more aggressive with each win, while the "loser" becomes more discouraged and looses self-esteem. When a martial art is properly taught, the goal is to increase the skills and self-esteem of each student and to teach the student to be humble and calm. This can only happen in a school where a student is not ridiculed for his mistakes, but accepts them and learns from them, and ego is balanced by a humble attitude that comes from understanding that there is always infinite room for improvement in your skills.
It doesn't really matter whether one person is "better" than another. For one thing, that would imply that there is a definition we can all agree on for the term "better". For another, no matter how "good" a person is, sooner or later someone "better" will come along.
So, if we shouldn't strive to be the "best", what are we training for? What they are trying to teach us is that each of us should strive to be as good as he or she can be and that the more we train sincerely, the better we can be. We are not competing with anyone else; what others do is irrelevant. What really matters is that we train sincerely and never become completely satisfied with our level of achievement. Once that happens, sincere training will cease.
There is another aspect of this idea that they explored. People who feel good about themselves when they think they are "better" than someone else have a serious problem with their self-esteem. If a person must feel "better" than someone else in order to feel good about himself, that person is going to be unhappy most of his life; in other words, if you allow your self-esteem to depend on what others think of you, you will never be truly happy.
Only when your self-esteem comes from a strong inner belief that you are a valuable person can you have a chance to be truly happy. This type of self-esteem can't come from compliments from others; it can't come from anything you don't have to earn with your own hard effort. The only way you can get it is by doing something that is difficult for you to do and doing it until you do it well in your own mind. You may receive compliments from others for this achievement, but those compliments won't sustain you. What will sustain you is your own effort and achievement. There is no better place to invest your effort than in improving yourself.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Luck Of The Draw
On Saturday, my school practiced with another school and we had a ceremony to honor some students. Next week everyone in my school is being matched against a fighter from that other school. During the practice I noticed one of their students was really fast with his hands and when he landed a punch he drove even the biggest guy backwards a few feet. He really impressed me and the others of my school and even though none of us spoke it, I could tell by the body language everyone had that they were hoping they would not be matched up against him next week. I happened to be getting a drink of water when the list was posted. I opened the bottle, took a sip of water and just as I was about to swallow, practically everyone in my class turned around and looked at me with a look of horror on their face. I knew in an instant who I was matched up against and it suddenly became very hard to swallow that sip of water.
After walking in a circle a few times, hitting myself against the side of my head and whispering "Oh my God" I found myself surrounded by my fellow students who were still talking to me as though I was about to die and they were offering condolences. Just then I saw Gareth walk in and stand with other family members who had arrived to pick someone up. I went to the lockeroom and grabbed my bag and without even wanting to shower I went to find Gareth. I thought he will be my rock and he will have something calming to say and make everything seem alright. So I walk up to him and before I could tell him who I was matched against, he tells me he already heard. As I turn to point out who my opponent will be, I notice he is now doing one fingered pushups. All I heard behind me from Gareth, my rock, my calming influence was the words, "You're so dead!" Resigned to my fate I replied "Yep, lets get out of here." As we stepped outside, the cold air felt refreshing after being in that hot gym and it let me know I was alive. At least for one more week.
After walking in a circle a few times, hitting myself against the side of my head and whispering "Oh my God" I found myself surrounded by my fellow students who were still talking to me as though I was about to die and they were offering condolences. Just then I saw Gareth walk in and stand with other family members who had arrived to pick someone up. I went to the lockeroom and grabbed my bag and without even wanting to shower I went to find Gareth. I thought he will be my rock and he will have something calming to say and make everything seem alright. So I walk up to him and before I could tell him who I was matched against, he tells me he already heard. As I turn to point out who my opponent will be, I notice he is now doing one fingered pushups. All I heard behind me from Gareth, my rock, my calming influence was the words, "You're so dead!" Resigned to my fate I replied "Yep, lets get out of here." As we stepped outside, the cold air felt refreshing after being in that hot gym and it let me know I was alive. At least for one more week.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Nationalizing Banks
"The Government was not nationalising Anglo Irish Bank in order to bail out developer friends." said Finance Minister Brian Lenihan. “It is in the national interest and has been taken to safeguard the economic future of the country”, he said, introducing the legislation in the Dáil. “It is not a question of saving a few developers from going to the wall — it is a matter of underpinning deposit and wholesale funding throughout the financial system.”
Anglo Irish had to be rescued because it was of “systemic importance” to the country, with a balance sheet in excess of €100 billion. Contrary to some impressions, the bank lent to a wide range of customers and not just developers, although the latter formed a very important part of Anglo’s balance sheet, said Mr Linehan. “Thousands of customers rely on Anglo for credit, while hundreds of thousands of depositors are involved. All my advice is that letting Anglo Irish Bank fail would lead to very serious disruption of our financial system.”
But Mr Lenihan stressed there would be a new regime at Anglo now that it was being nationalised. “The Government is determined to protect the taxpayer’s interests by putting clear blue water between the new Anglo Irish Bank and the unacceptable behaviour that has gone before.” He said the day-to-day running of Anglo would continue as normal, with all staff remaining employed by the bank. “Anglo will be managed on a commercial basis at arm’s length from the Government allowing the full potential of the bank’s business to be realised,” Mr Lenihan said. “The Government will be appointing a new board to oversee the running of the bank and to prepare a comprehensive business plan to enable Anglo to continue as a going concern.” There was “no question” of winding up the bank, he added.
Mr Lenihan also said Anglo had about €70bn outstanding in loans and advances to customers, but rejected suggestions this was all bad debt: “As with any bank, there is a mixture of mostly good loans and some that are distressed.” While it was clear there would be losses “on some of the loans”, Anglo had about €7bn of shareholder funds and other capital available to it to offset any losses on the loan book, he said. All borrowers from the bank “remain subject to the same terms and the new board of Anglo will place a particular focus on ensuring that all debts are fully pursued”, he said. “Depositors and other creditors of Anglo continue to be protected by the Government’s guarantee on all bank liabilities until September 2010.”
Anglo Irish had to be rescued because it was of “systemic importance” to the country, with a balance sheet in excess of €100 billion. Contrary to some impressions, the bank lent to a wide range of customers and not just developers, although the latter formed a very important part of Anglo’s balance sheet, said Mr Linehan. “Thousands of customers rely on Anglo for credit, while hundreds of thousands of depositors are involved. All my advice is that letting Anglo Irish Bank fail would lead to very serious disruption of our financial system.”
But Mr Lenihan stressed there would be a new regime at Anglo now that it was being nationalised. “The Government is determined to protect the taxpayer’s interests by putting clear blue water between the new Anglo Irish Bank and the unacceptable behaviour that has gone before.” He said the day-to-day running of Anglo would continue as normal, with all staff remaining employed by the bank. “Anglo will be managed on a commercial basis at arm’s length from the Government allowing the full potential of the bank’s business to be realised,” Mr Lenihan said. “The Government will be appointing a new board to oversee the running of the bank and to prepare a comprehensive business plan to enable Anglo to continue as a going concern.” There was “no question” of winding up the bank, he added.
Mr Lenihan also said Anglo had about €70bn outstanding in loans and advances to customers, but rejected suggestions this was all bad debt: “As with any bank, there is a mixture of mostly good loans and some that are distressed.” While it was clear there would be losses “on some of the loans”, Anglo had about €7bn of shareholder funds and other capital available to it to offset any losses on the loan book, he said. All borrowers from the bank “remain subject to the same terms and the new board of Anglo will place a particular focus on ensuring that all debts are fully pursued”, he said. “Depositors and other creditors of Anglo continue to be protected by the Government’s guarantee on all bank liabilities until September 2010.”
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
More Irish Layoffs
Grocery store chain Superquinn is cutting 400 jobs and closing one of its stores and transportation company Bus Éireann is to cut 320 jobs and its fleet is to be reduced by 150 vehicles.
In addition to the job cuts and reduction in its fleet, the plan includes a pay freeze up to the end of 2009 as well as the deferring of payment of the terms of Towards 2016.
The company says that the 'unprecedented economic downturn' led to a 4% decrease in Bus Éireann customer numbers in 2008.
It estimates that there will be a further 5% to 6% fall in passenger numbers in 2009.
Bus Éireann says it hopes that savings from the plan will restore the company to a strong financial position by the end of 2010.
Last week, Dublin Bus announced 290 jobs as part of a series of cost-cutting measures.
Dublin Bus is also withdrawing 120 buses, which is 10% of its fleet. It said no routes will be removed, but some services would be amalgamated and that the frequency of buses would be adjusted in some areas.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)