The Karate Lesson

There are movies I connect with, and maybe it is because I am just an emotional person. Sometimes, these films reduce me to tears, literally. And sometimes I physically let my tears flow out of the prison called maturity.

So I watched ‘the karate kid’ again. And just like ‘3 idiots’, ‘like stars on earth’, and the likes that highlight human suffering and pain, I got emotional and all mushy-mushy. Though society considers a man who cries a weak man, I am not one that hides away from letting my tears flow whenever there is a need to.

So back to ‘the karate kid’. Dre has to fight for honour and respect or he loses everything that can give him fulfilment and sense of humanity. Imagine the frustration that comes with moving to a new land just to become an outcast and a subject of bullies. That is not cool right? Of course!

But think about carefully; he should have just accepted his ordeal and warm up to his oppressors. At least that would save him the pain of going through that rigorous kung fu training. A lot of us would do that. That is what a majority of us do every day. We choose the “the easy route” — the path of least resistance.

Dre wouldn’t have that. He wasn’t even supposed to show up at the final for he had made his statement. An underdog in the semi-final is enough reward! But he did go back on stage to fight the demon. That same demon that frequently tells us to quit and accept that is all we could do in any given situation. If we don’t listen to this demon, our resiliency will find a way to win.

Did you notice that the move that won him the fight wasn’t taught by his master but from what he saw the snake woman did? When you confront life troubles with calmness, it will hesitate to eat you up and give you enough room to factor a way to tackle it.

Problems can’t defeat us. We can always choose to get up and continue fighting or give up and go home to the jeers of our detractors.

In all, Dre fought and earned his respect and honour. And what that teaches us is that you can be beaten and will be beaten several times but you have to stand up every time and keep fighting. Fight for your honour, fight for your respect!

Altogether, happiness comes not from possessing materials but solving problems.