"If I am walking with two men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself." -Confucius As we advance in rank in Karate, this is how my Sensei likes to teach us. Instead of showing us how to do something and then having us practice it as he makes corrections (although that still is necessary), he likes to have us try to spot our own mistakes and correct them on our own. This includes observing the Katas, or forms, of others, and learning from them in precisely the same way as the above quote describes. One might assume that we watch the Katas of higher belts and imitate the good points, then watch the Katas of the lower belts and correct the bad points in ourselves, but this is not the case. Both groups are observed evenly; trying to pick out bad points in the higher belts' Katas is much harder, and requires more introspection, and trying to find good points in the lower belts' Katas that we can imitate is more about introspection also: What am I not doing in my Kata that I should be? What are they doing in their Katas that I am not? I think that learning by example is one of the best ways to learn, and actually I talk about this in my Synthesis Essay: empathic people must be willing to be the change that they want to see in the
0 Comments
"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." -Confucius This is an interesting quote; directly, it relates to momentum, a large concept in physics (always move forward, for if you stop you will have a hard time starting again). However, that definition that I just gave in parentheses works both literally and metaphorically. When I read this quote, the first thing that comes to mind is the philosophy of one of my Boy Scout troop leaders, with respect to hiking: when he leads hikes, he does not like to take breaks. If the going is tough, or uphill, and you stop, it makes it even harder when you begin to hike again. Instead, he asks people to just walk as slowly as they need to when going uphill, as long as they are, in fact, still moving. We then make up for the lost time by going as fast as is humanly possible without
When we wrote our synthesis essays in class this week, one of the sources that we could have chosen was Feeding America, San Diego. I found this interesting because I have volunteered there before. It is absolutely incredible what they do; I was helping to box food, and when I arrived I was led into a literal warehouse, with boxes and crates of food stacked to the ceiling. If empathy is what gets people to donate to charities like Feeding America SD, then those people running the organization must be some of the most empathic people around!
I actually enjoy shooting sports. I don't have many opportunities to shoot guns; I don't own any, and I don't have any nearby shooting ranges. So, I jump at any chances I get to shoot. One pretty neat experience that I had recently with shooting was at Philmont Scout Ranch (again!), when I had the opportunity to do Cowboy Action shooting. For those of you who don't know what this is, Cowboy Action shooting was created by some gun fanatics who got bored with having to buy all of the latest models to win competitions. One day, someone said, "Hey, guys! Let's just grab some old, outdated guns and go mess around with them! It'll be fun." And Cowboy Action shooting was born. (click below to read more)
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird I take a lot of leadership positions in my boy scout troop, and I have an assertive personality, but in reality leadership mostly stresses me out. I have heard many people say that they wish that they could rule the world, or that they aspire to be president. I have heard as many people say that they would not want to be president, and I am firmly in that camp. The above quote from To Kill a Mockingbird tells us to refrain from judging a book by its cover; the job of president gets you instant access to fame and money . . . and drops a ton of responsibilities on you. You would constantly have aides, coworkers, and many other people besides on your heels, asking you questions, and while some people thrive under those conditions I do not. Really, I don't know how Barack Obama manages to get from one day to the next without some part of his brain spontaneously combusting from an excessive energy usage. Anyone who can handle leadership like he can has my respect.
|
Author My name is Peter Fisher. I am a freshman at High Tech High North County, and this page is for the Moral Compass project that we are currently working on in my Humanities class. Archives
April 2014
Categories |