Greed = Guilt

People continue to deny global warming is a mankind influenced phenomena. They expend an amazingly large amount of energy passionately refuting any argument to the contrary. The thing they have going for them is time. It is impossible to prove that the current global warming crisis isn’t just part of a natural cycle. I guess if a person chooses, they can pretty much justify any choice no matter the consequence.

Sometimes we are so tied up in our personal convictions that we lose sight as to what is logically the correct moral choice. Whether or not global warming is influenced by mankind’s decisions, the world we leave behind will be a reflection of our values and what is left will ultimately be our legacy.

We all should be consuming to live, not living to consume.

“I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet, raised to an alarming extent by Hollywood and Madison Avenue, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak.” - Bill Watterson (b. 1958)

Craig Kielburger - Living Hero #9

Craig Kielburger was only a twelve year old Canadian schoolchild who was looking for the comics in the newspaper when he read an article that set him off on his life’s crusade. The article was about Iqhal Mashi, a former slave in Pakistan who had been freed. Mashi used his freedom to speak out against debt slavery and he was a public advocate of children’s rights when he was assassinated at the age of thirteen. Craig Kielburger was struck by the story and decided to take action.

Keilburger founded founded Free the Children, an organization dedicated to fighting child slave labour and encouraging children to speak up against injustice. Within a year, thirteen year old Craig Keilburger was meeting with Prime Minister Jean Chretien and convincing him that Canada had a moral responsibility to take up the issue.

Kielburger's Free the Children is now fourteen years old, and the organization has built more than four hundred schools in twenty three different countries. They have more than one million youth supporters worldwide, and sixty five per cent of the funds raised come from young people.

It is hard not to want to step up and take action when presented with leadership like this. Craig Kielburger was able to create global change and awareness at the age of twelve. Imagine what the rest of us are capable of achieving.

"What this is all about is political will. If our own country [Canada] and other countries made it clear that child labor is both illegal and unacceptable, then this problem wouldn't exist." - Craig Keilburger (b. 1982)

There Is Never Enough Time To Do All The Nothing You Want

The chaos of the week is behind me and I realize that while I was busy pursuing my goals, spring had arrived and with its arrival, a sobering awareness has come over me.

While I continue to reach for more, I do not always notice what I already hold in my hands or what is tragically slipping through my fingers.

“Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going to fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” - Eddie Cantor (1892 - 1964)

Extinct is Forever

Polar bears are becoming endangered and the Inuit of Baffin Bay are opposing the government’s decision to cut the quota of polar bears that can be hunted. When you consider that the polar bear is the first species to become endangered by global warming, it is hard not to see the Inuit’s position. Cutting the hunting quota to 65 bears from 105 is going to have a negligible affect on the rate of decline of their population considering the number of polar bears that are drowning in the newly opened sea.

The same week the Nunavut Government announced the hunting quota reduction, the Alberta Government announced a new oil and gas royalty regime that will stimulate more oil exploration while making a commitment to “streamline regulator approvals for the oil and gas industry”. Read - ease environmental regulations and standards. Alberta already has the reputation of producing some of the world’s dirtiest oil and we’re going to ease our environmental standards? Is there anyone even awake out there or are we all too busy making a buck and taking care of our own?

Arctic ice is melting faster than even the most paranoid scientists could imagine, and our ecology is changing forever. Forever. That’s a long time. A heck of a lot longer than our oil reserves are going to last.

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” - Ansel Adams (1902 -1984)

One Step Forward . . .

I missed my UBBT 6 graduation because of an opportunity I could not afford to pass up. I have had a systemic problem with massive swelling in my knees since November 16, 2008 and they can’t seem to find any reason why this is happening to me. I have been in the queue to see a pain/rehab specialist and of course my turn came up at the same time as the UBBT graduation. I am very disappointed that I couldn’t attend the graduation but I had to take the opportunity to get to the bottom of this issue that has been affecting me for my entire UBBT 6 and is following me through the Live Like a Champion Project.

The results of my appointment were a good news/bad news scenario. The good news is it is definitely not rheumatoid arthritis. This was my biggest fear as the swelling hit both knees at the exact same time overnight. That specific symptom usually points to an autoimmune issue. The bad news is that there is no obvious systemic reason why my legs are causing me so much grief. I was really hoping for a definitive answer to my problem but I will have to be satisfied knowing that my immune system has not betrayed me.

All in all I am happy with things. I am on a rehab program to try and recover some of the muscle mass I have lost in my legs over the past sixteen months and I now have the confidence that I am not going to exasperate my issues by pushing the knees a little harder in the coming months.

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” - Lance Armstrong (b. 1971)

I Ate What?

As a teacher, parents expect me to build their children’s self esteem. We all want our children to be leaders, not followers. This can be a challenge for me when parents expect leadership skills to miraculously develop exclusively through the copious amounts of kicking and punching taking place on the mats. If I am not able to utilize all the tools I have available, developing leadership skills within my students becomes a much more difficult task.

At Silent River Kung Fu commercial bottled water is not permitted within the school. The environmental and health issues associated with bottled water are well documented and in good conscience I won’t turn a blind eye while someone exasperates a serious problem. It can be frustrating when a parent challenges our policy by reducing the issue’s solution to recycling and BPA free plastic. For every person that seeks out the healthiest, least environmentally toxic bottled water available, there are dozens of people only seeing a person drinking and endorsing commercially bottled water.

There are enough problems in the world caused by the “everyman for himself” approach to life. That’s why we have greedy shareholders endorsing CEOs who collect outrageous bonuses for generating short term profits while driving their corporation into bankruptcy. If we all just worry about what we are personally doing about serious issues while ignoring our responsibility in setting an example that inspires others to follow, it is going to take forever to get everyone pulling in the same direction to implement lasting change.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” - John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848)

The Future Is Bright

Six long months of grading came to an end last night when six new Sifus entered the world. Each new black belt brings their experience and leadership to the collective and their examples of perseverance and mastery provide the leadership that inspires others to reach for new heights. I find the grading process exhaustive but when everything turns out like it did last night, I am left with an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and euphoria.

I am proud of my students’ accomplishments and when I look at the community effort that went into helping these six achieve their black belts, I have no doubts about the long term future of Silent River Kung Fu. My goal has always been to make my school bigger than any one individual and last night proved that we have indeed arrived. Our school truly has its own soul that will endure well beyond the lifespan of any one individual.

What a great way to start the Year of the Tiger.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” - Greg Anderson (b. 1966)