My only experience in the martial arts was a three week long experiement with kung fu. I went to the class to see what it was like and to learn about the thing that took many of my friends captive on every Tuesday and Thursday night. I cautiously entered the Chinese restaurant with my friends and proceeded into the basement where the class was held. I was not fond of the huge mirrors lining the longest wall, but I didn’t mind the incense sticks that burned in little holders around all four edges of the room. It didn’t take me long, however, to learn that martial arts wasn’t for me.
My little bout with martial arts taught me a lot about myself and a lot about martial arts. In all honesty, I expected to arrive at kung fu class and find it to be easy and mindless. I would soon learn that kung fu, like all of the martial arts, requires a level of strength and discipline that I could only dream of possessing. Each person in our class came prepared to work hard and to do this they left the troubles of their lives at the door. Entering the martial arts room meant entering a new world for them. A world that required everything and more that they had to...