08/22/2025
They say age is just a number, as I get older and older it gets a little harder and harder to stand by that statement. It gets a little tougher each year to remember what it's like to be in the shoes of someone so young and remember how they think, how they act, what things are important to them and what shapes their world you know?
I watch my students day in and day out as they sweat and they cry and they struggle and yea sometimes they even bleed. Every day as I open those doors I open them full of hope and aspiration, but when I close them I can't help but worry. I worry if they're going to be ok; that the things they struggle with they'll be able to overcome. What they were crying about yesterday won't inhibit them tomorrow and what was bleeding last week won't leave a scar today. I'm not gonna lie it eaten at me over the years.
So thank you Harry for giving me hope again in all of my young students. To be just 15 years old and get his black belt is such an extraordinary accomplishment I cannot put it into words, so unless you've been a part of some kind of martial art yourself it's not something you can truly empathize with you'll just have to take my word and understand that even as an adult there are millions around the world who shoot for it and fail, yet Harry started his journey at 3 and never blinked, never quit and made it all the way through as my 5th black belt.
In that time, Harry saw what I saw. Hundreds of kids in those 12 years come and go as he kept on trucking through as a tear got one and a scar got another, Harry had both in spades and still does and that's the point. You see Harry reminded me of something at his test, he said he wanted his black belt so he could be tough and I'm not gonna lie I laughed a little out of pure joy. Such a youthful, optimistic statement. Just to be genuinely and just "generally" tough. However if we were going to take this test to the next level I had to pop that bubble a little so I asked Harry what does tough mean? I said "like big, strong muscles because I'm not gonna lie to you man, that will only get you so far."
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