Fundamental Natural Law #2

"Anything you break, can always be fixed."

The Lamp

When I was a young teenager, Bruce Lee came out with the movie, Enter the Dragon. My friends and I didn’t have money for karate lessons so we went home and created our own Nunchaku out of inch and a half wooden hickory dowels with two I-Bolts and 4 inches of chain.

One night when no one was home, while practicing in the living room with those newly made Nunchaku, I accidentally hit my mom’s favorite lamp and broke it into 7 pieces. “Oh crap, am I in trouble,” was my initial thought.

I gathered up all the broken pieces of the lamp and moved into the kitchen. Grabbing the bottle of glue I went to work carefully putting the pieces back together. An hour later I positioned the lamp on its original spot. I was admiring my work when the front door opened. It was my mom. She flipped on the light switch, which was connected to the wall socket where the lamp was plugged. The lamp did not light. Panic started to set in. I completely forgot to change the light bulb. I knew I was a dead young man as she started over.

Under closer examination she asked, “What happened to my lamp?”

At which time, I promptly responded, “I don’t know.”

As she looked closer, she was able to see the glue lines and I realized I was busted.

She sat me down and explained, “I am upset, not angry, but disappointed. I wish you had told me the truth. As you know, this is my favorite lamp. The fact of the matter is that I have broken this lamp twice before. Anything you break can always be fixed son. If you would have told me the truth I could have helped you fix it. Life is made of choices and you made a bad choice tonight. The lamp can be fixed in an evening. However, fixing a lie will take much longer to repair. Don’t lie to me son.”

What I should have done as soon as she walked in is said:

“Mom, I love you and just so you know, I was working out with my Nunchaku and accidentally broke your lamp. I glued it back together and it actually looks much better, don’t you think?”

However, because I chose not to do that, I ended up getting two days of restriction for breaking the lamp and two weeks more for not telling the truth.

Anything you break can always be fixed and it is much easier to fix the material things. So try not to break the important stuff, like the trust that people have in you.

Dedicated to your achievement,
Garland R. Johnson
Assistant Professor Garland R. Johnson

Fundamental Natural Law #1

"You never get trouble for telling the truth."

Story: I mean no disrespect.

Years ago in preparation for the annual Black Belt Testing, Professor Buell requested the names of the Student and Degree Black Belt Testing Candidates from the Universal Heads of Schools and Chief Instructors. We did as he requested.

The time came when we were all together and the rank examinations began. We, as Instructors, have learned to prepare our students as best we can; when it comes time for Black Belt Testing, we explain to the student: “You are getting ready to go down a very challenging and demanding part of your journey to Black Belt and beyond. We cannot go down this path for you. This is something that you must do yourself. We will wait for you on the other side to welcome you with open arms into the Black Belt Ranks, but you have to go down the path.” When we turned them over to Professor we said, “They are all yours Professor. Pass or fail it is your call.”

After the examination, Professor Buell gathered all the Heads and informed us that he was failing each of our top people (including two of mine). We were shocked. The Heads of Schools and Chief Instructors got together afterward and started grumbling about the decision, wondering if he was going senile or something. In my infinite wisdom, I said to the others, “I am going to talk to him.”

So, I got with Professor Buell in private and explained, “Sir, I mean no disrespect, however I think you are wrong on your decision to fail the people you are planning to fail, and I am not the only one who feels this way. We all feel that way.” (Big Mistake). “Oh really,” was his response. “Yep, really.” I said. “Well let’s find out, shall we?” He said with a smile.

He then gathered all the Heads Of Schools and Chief Instructors into the room and said, “Garland says he thinks I’m wrong on my decision to fail these people and says that a lot of you feel the same way. All those who feel the same, please step forward.”

Not a one of them stepped forward. They left me there all alone. I looked at Professor Buell, then looked at them and looked back at Professor Buell and said “Okay, I understand and the lesson is well-learned. I can only speak for myself. So in speaking only for myself, I mean no disrespect; however, I have to stick to my guns. I still think you are wrong on this decision.” He said “Okay” and dismissed us all.

Promotion time came up and to everyone’s surprise, all those people he said he was going to fail, he promoted. Afterward he gathered all the Heads of the Schools and Chief Instructors into a room and explained some things.

“Instructors, I was testing your students. However, I was also testing you folks. I wanted to see who had the courage to come to me if I made a bad decision. Because of Garland’s courage, all of your students passed their examination. But, oh by the way, all of you failed.”

As scary as it may be, you never get in trouble for telling the truth.

Dedicated to your achievement,

Garland R. Johnson

Assistant Professor Johnson

Introduction to the Fundamental Natural Laws

Fundamental Natural Laws

"Introduction"

February 28, 2008

Dear folks,

Professor Buell says, “Nothing is ever created, it is only discovered.” Such is the case with these dialogues. The following illustrations are life lessons that we have been awakened to. Please allow me to introduce and share this ongoing series of what we call our “Fundamental Natural Laws” (Laws that can never be broken) and the supporting documentation that is the “Story Telling” we do in class.

Special thanks to Kyoshi Steve LaVallee for encouraging me to continue this project and to Professor & Mrs. Martin T. Buell and Mr. Nicholas Cokinos who continue to help us awaken to the world that is around us. A lot of these Fundamental Natural Laws are distilled from stories that were shared with me, combined with my own joyful and painful life lessons. I would encourage each of you to develop a similar library of Fundamental Natural Laws for you and the people you influence.

The development of our students’ life skills, character development and success secrets are a priority. These aforementioned objectives have been taught and engrained in us from our instructors, teachers and mentors. I believe it important to continue this tradition and preserve it for our next generation. It is what makes the martial arts so unique, special and different than anything else out there, when it comes to developing the future leaders of tomorrow.

To this day, I remember when I was a lower ranking student I was invited by Professor Buell to visit a different martial arts organization in Hawaii with a group from our school. Not knowing better, I stayed in the background and off to the side until Mrs. Buell, grabbed me by the arm, took me over to the table where the masters were and said, “Now shut up, sit here and listen.”

On that evening the rich world of the martial arts began to open up to me as I just listened, watched and admired the “walking text books” of the martial arts that were the masters before me. Their wisdom within the stories that they shared helped me to form the core values that I hold dear to this day.

At this point you could be saying, “I have no life experiences that are worth sharing.” To that I would beg to differ. If you have lived this long on this earth, then we know you have a colorful and exciting life experiences to share. We have found that the people you influence are eager to know more about you and when, where and why you are where you are today.

I would venture to say, that each of you as instructors (or instructors in training) have similar rich experiences and history to draw from. I would further suggest that you would have best success with taking these Fundamental Natural Laws and substitute in your stories to support each Law. Remember, talk from the heart, tell the truth and you can never go wrong. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Dedicated to your achievement,
Garland R. Johnson
Assistant Professor Johnson