“A Black Belt is a
White Belt… Who never gave up!”
Imagine your Martial Arts Training as a mountain. A White
Belt just starting would find him or herself at the bottom of the mountain
looking up. As you go through promotions and get higher and higher, you can
look behind and see everything you have climbed; looking ahead, you still have
a bit to go. Now, imagine receiving your Black Belt. You look behind you and
see the long, long distance you have climbed. Now look ahead, and what do you
see?
Many people may think that is it. You have reached the top
of the mountain when receiving your Black Belt. But, this is not the case. When
you look ahead, you have a whole new mountain’s worth to climb.
Earning your Black Belt is a symbol that you have learned
the Basics. It’s kind of like earning your high school diploma—you may have
mastered the basics in calculus, writing, or biology, but you’re not ready to
go out into the world in a career in engineering, journalism, or medicine.
After high school, you’ll need to go to college to learn what else is needed
for those careers, then into the real world to apply all that learning. Once
you have earned your Black Belt it is like you are in college. You take the
basics you’ve already learned and apply them in new ways with weapons and
advanced training.
When a teenager goes to get their license, they study and
practice driving and parallel parking until their test. Once the test is
completed and they have their license, do they stop driving? No. When you get
your license you are officially qualified to drive. This is no different than
receiving a Black Belt. When you receive the Belt, you are qualified to learn
more complex techniques.
