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Thread: Are we having fun yet?

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Are we having fun yet?

    Have you really thought about why you do Wing Chun or any other martial art?

    There was a recent thread about "getting home safely at the end of the day." I think that for most people doing martial arts, getting home safely is likely not an issue. The biggest issue that concerns me as far as getting home safely, is the other crazy drivers on the road. So if this was my true motivation, I should be taking a defensive driving course and then practicing at the local track every weekend rather than doing martial arts. Even if physical attack was a concern, most attackers are going to have a weapon of some sort, and often it will be a gun. So my empty-hand training might not serve me to the best advantage. I would therefore put much more emphasis on my martial knifecraft training than on Wing Chun.

    I think most people are like me and train because they enjoy doing it. They have fun! They might have just as much fun training something like Tae Kwon Do. So whether they are learning the "most authentic" the "most original" or the "very best" version of Wing Chun is irrelevant as long as they are having fun training.

    So I'd like to see a lot of the "killjoy" attitude go away. We have far too many people that take themselves far too seriously. Some see themselves as some kind of "defender of the faith" that has to protect the quality of their system. I've even had one Sifu tell me that he doesn't post about things openly in public forums because that would be like "casting pearls before swines." Not a very helping attitude! Some will post to put others down and try to make them look like they don't know what they are talking about rather than posting to help explain something and expand knowledge. Some will post with "teasers" to imply they know something that they aren't really willing to tell you explicitly. I call this the "Chinese Master" act. Its really not helpful, and not in the spirit of helping someone have fun with their practice. And then there are those that will post to run others down and tell them their practice is not legitimate if they are not fighting all out with people of other styles, or maybe what they are practicing is not legitimate because they are not doing the ultra secret snake body that descends from Ng Mui, or other such non-sense.

    Let's face it. Most of us practice Wing Chun because we enjoy doing it. Most of us come here to post because we enjoy talking about what we enjoy practicing with others of the same motivation. The Wing Chun "secret keys to the kingdom" are irrelevant. Wing Chun is not about life and death for us. Wing Chun is not paying the bills for most of us. In the scheme of things, Wing Chun practice is not that critical! So lighten up! Have fun! Don't take yourself too seriously. And don't let the "killjoys" get you down!

    Just my 2 cents.
    Last edited by KPM; 09-02-2008 at 04:42 PM.

  2. #2
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    amen ! ! ! !
    Sifu Phillip Redmond
    Traditional Wing Chun Academy NYC/L.A.
    菲利普雷德蒙師傅
    傳統詠春拳學院紐約市

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  3. #3
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    Amen!

    Thats a great post Keith. Thanks for doing it. Life is too danm short, train hard, play hard and sleep well. Then repeat the above!
    Don

  4. #4
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    Good post Keith, 100% correct.

    FWIW, th Road Transit Authority here doesn't recommend "defensive" or other "advanced" driving courses, as they claim there is no real evidence that graduates of such courses are less prone to traffic accidents than their untrained fellows.

    But hey, if you like that sort of thing, go for it and have fun!
    "Once you reject experience, and begin looking for the mysterious, then you are caught!" - Krishnamurti
    "We are all one" - Genki Sudo
    "We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion" - Tool, Parabol/Parabola
    "Bro, you f***ed up a long time ago" - Kurt Osiander

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  5. #5

  6. #6
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    I agree..but in a few mins we will be back to the same old same old..
    http://www.facebook.com/sifumcilwrath
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    There is no REAL secrets in Wing Chun, but because the forms are conceptual you have to know how to decipher the information..That's the secret..

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by KPM View Post
    Have you really thought about why you do Wing Chun or any other martial art?

    ... Let's face it. Most of us practice Wing Chun because we enjoy doing it. Most of us come here to post because we enjoy talking about what we enjoy practicing with others of the same motivation.
    Quality post Keith, and an honest critisicm imo of some of my own serious ramblings lol!

    I do post here to 'hopefully' help others and share some thoughts and ideas, which IS FUN, but I'm afraid that when I train it isn't 'just for fun'. It never has been. I train because of a true love for the art itself.
    Ti Fei
    詠春國術

  8. #8
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    Abercynon, South Wales
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    Just wanted to add my appreciation for this thread, I have of late been getting messages from an MMA fanboy telling me martial arts are useless and I should do MMA because hurting people is fun.. I don't train to hurt people, even for self defence, especially. I train because I enjoy the game of it, it's like playing tag when sparring, I enjoy it. Sometimes I wonder whether I can really consider myself a martial artist (though I'm far from an artist!) because I don't train with the martial purposes always in mind. If I can protect myself a little better, that's a bonus and I'm happy for it, but it's not my primary concern.

    It's comforting to know that I'm not the only person who doesn't train for life or death, as is the impression largely given a lot of the time online. Now I feel I can relax a little more and not feel bad for wanting to socialise more. I hate being a newb and not knowing what's in the water, as it were.

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