Smile or Grimace

Funny story. This summer my right knee had been popping for a few months so I figured it was time to get it checked out. There isn’t much cartilage left in that knee so it was getting somewhat disconcerting that whatever I had left may be jamming in the joint. Of course the waiting list for the compulsory MRI was over three months. My MRI was finally complete in December and my results were an incredible negative. How can my knee be popping and swelling if nothing is jammed in the joint? Okay fine. Maybe it’s just the swelling causing the popping. Nothing a few thousand gallons of ice and a few hundred thousand milligrams of ibuprofen won’t fix. Onward and outward.

Fast forward four weeks to the Black Belt class on Friday. I’m teaching the butterfly guard when my left knee, that’s right - the left one, locks from cartilage jamming in the joint. Of course I can’t believe this so I reset and try it again and - WHAMO! It locks again. How do I know it is cartilage? Four surgeries for the same problem over the past twenty years have me pretty much intimately attuned to the betrayals of my knees. After the frustrating wait for my month-old right knee MRI - talk about the irony. I have made an appointment to have the left knee checked on Tuesday and then the waiting begins again for the next inevitable compulsory MRI.

Maybe the story isn’t really that funny. Perhaps it becomes more funny when you consider the muscle mass I have lost since this summer due to another separated shoulder. Can’t do any push ups or upper body strength building exercises with that type of joint swelling. Heck I couldn’t even throw a punch for a while there. Okay that part isn’t funny either but it is downright hilarious if you consider that most of my bi-yearly shoulder separations are caused by shoulder rolls and break falls and we have just replaced our school’s fluffy, forgiving mats with in your face, revenge seeking, don’t even think of messing up that break fall, mats of mass destruction. Nice.

So let’s take inventory here. Two surgeries on my right knee - with joint reconstruction no less, two surgeries on my left knee (a possible third in my future), two fractured wrists from an over-zealous ju jitsu instructor, three fractured knuckles from a cement block, five wonky toes on my left foot from throwing a poor front kick on a heavy bag as a white belt, one fractured foot from an ill-timed break fall, a broken nose from a frozen tennis ball, a non functioning left ankle due to a missed landing on a spear form, a gazillion separated shoulders, and neck, back, and TMJ problems from a car accident. To allow my mom some restful sleep, I have left the injuries from my motorcycle crashes off the list (they were awesome though with a very high coolness factor).

One might be tempted to venture the suggestion that I slow down and perhaps start taking care of myself. I am not a masochist but like any self-respecting marital artist I see the positives in all these injuries. If I am not hurting I know I am not pushing myself. That’s what progress is all about. Pushing yourself beyond what you feel you are capable. Sure I get frustrated with all the injuries, especially when they prevent me from training the way I want. However I do have to admit that every injury, every limitation, has brought opportunity. These opportunities are only possible because I continue to push despite my limitations. Look for opportunities and they will present themselves. Become indifferent and the opportunities will pass you by without you even noticing. Celebrate your injuries as a sign of potential and progress and the negativity that usually accompanies an injury becomes a standard under which to rally your resolve.

With this attitude in mind, last night’s Canadian Ging Wu Chinese New Year Party was the first event of many in which I will be participating to bring in the Year of the Rat. I am determined to make this a year of taken opportunities and one of personal growth - both physically and spiritually. On another note, this will be the fifth New Year that will be celebrated without Grandmaster Stan Lee. He was a great leader and tremendous human being. Despite barely knowing him, I truly miss him.

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
- Charles R. Swindoll (b 1934)