A copy or are you yourself?

Meeting up with two good friends, that both are very competent martial artist, we started a discussion about the teachers/sensei's and coaches we’ve meet through the years. All of us started about 35 years ago and have meet and tried many different teachers. Typically we started off in the city were we lived, with the teachers that were there.  At seminars new connections were made, and off we went trying new stuff.

Looking back some teachers were really good, while others were really bad. And even some of the good teachers probably wouldn’t be that good after all these years, but we meet them a place in life were they had some good stuff to helps us on in our quest. And then there were those that stood out, and even do. Both the good and bad teachers. Both of them rare in their own sense, but both of them have left an impression , thus influencing our lives even now.

I was thinking about writing an article about honoring all the teachers, sensei's and coaches I’ve been influenced by. But after our talk it got me thinking about “influence”, and what it is. A good teachers gets defined by what I feel brings me forward to what I think is my goal, and the opposite for a bad teachers. Acknowledging that even a bad teacher at the time did give me experience to understand and evaluate were I was.

From this I wanted to write a list of teachers to honor them for the fact that the experience I have is based on their influence. I found myself writing down every single teacher, the good and bad, even people who didn’t do martial arts since they influence my way of thought and possibilities. I know that I’m the sum of my experience, but still it surprised me. But what surprised more was the fact that each time I thought of a “bad” teacher I became aware of what I did learn by having that teacher.

There is a side of me stating that if I had be a student of the “right” teacher I would have learned the correct way. Bu this experience showed me that if I didn’t learn the “wrong things” I couldn’t really understand what I was doing now – I would only be a copy of that “teacher”. And between the two… me or a copy, I’d always pick being me.