Appreciation and Respect

One of my most vivid memories of Grand Master Margie Hilbig was of an incident that happened over twenty years ago while I was training at Margie’s school at the Edmonton City Police Headquarters. A group of us black belts were off training on our own to one side of the gymnasium while Margie was teaching her group of queue belts on the other side of the gym. Class was going fine until I heard Margie screaming “I DON’T NEED YOU! YOU NEED ME!” With that, she stormed out of the gymnasium. You could have heard a pin drop when the door shut behind Margie. We were all speechless. Those who recovered first from the shock began looking for a backup exit. No one wanted to face Margie’s wrath.

I have no idea what transgression had taken place to warrant such a response from Margie. For decades I could not imagine being able to think, let alone say, what Margie screamed to her queue belts that day. This week that all changed.

Margie is gone. The knowledge that was lost with her is still unfathomable to me. I now understand where Margie was coming from that day. Art cannot be passed down through books or videos. It can only be passed from person to person. With Margie’s passing, I can no longer look to her for knowledge. I feel the burden of responsibility is on me that more intensely - I need to get more of my knowledge passed down to my own students. That task is almost impossible without appreciation and respect.

“The greatest humiliation in life is to work hard on something from which you expect great appreciation, and then fail to get it.” E.W. Howe (1853 - 1937)