Chronicles of a Wandering Kenshi @wanderingblade-blog - Tumblr Blog

Salted Earth

First off, let me say that every post here, on my blog, has been authentic and is a reflection of the goings-on of my personal life, I share my thoughts on the things that happen to me, so that I might help you if you're going through something similar.

SO, with that out of the way, let's begin. Today has been a very black day for me. I've had to do something that I don't normally like to do. I ended a friendship today, and not on the best of terms. She was a friend from college, we had a few classes in common, and so we bonded, but after that, we kept growing more and more distant, to the point where we didn't acknowledge each other anymore.

After a while of that, I felt that I should at least try to make amends, and we restarted communication, but like a shattered mirror, it was not the same, we didn't know each other anymore, then, (and this is where I think I made a mistake), I requested to be her friend on facebook. Yeah, she shot that down a few times, without ever really explaining why, she just went the full nuclear option, and cut off all communication. I dismissed it at the time, and thought she was just going through one of those phases.

Flash forward to today, I wanted to ask her opinion on something, and when I went to write to her, I was still blocked. I asked a mutual friend if she knew something was up; she said that she didn't know. I took the channel of last resort, (can't block someone on Gmail it turns out.), and I asked her, directly, why she had blocked me. Her response felt half-assed and, quite frankly, was made to shift the blame entirely onto me, without her accepting her lack of communication, that her facebook is for her family, close friends, and those who she deems worthy of being on her list. I called her on it, and said that if she really, truly felt that way, she wouldn't have to worry about it, I would back off and not contact her in the future, so that she could live in peace. Of course, she wrote back to say that she didn't feel any "ill will" towards me, but the fact of the matter remains, that she salted the earth, so to speak, if you read between the lines, you see a pattern of avoidance, of severing communication. She , in my mind, WANTED to end our friendship.

So I decided to finish burning the bridge, I severed her from my life, completely, she is persona non grata, now and forevermore, until the end of time, in short, she is dead to me. And our mutual friends will suffer, but that's the price to pay.

Lessons of the Day:

1. Friendship should work as a two-way street

2. When someone kills the communication, they are worth it.

Safe travels, happy new years;

Wandering Blade

#saltedearth #friendship #endofafriendship

Shedding dead weight

Hey, As I've mentioned before, life is a journey, and, like any journey, there are parts that are easy, parts that are harder, parts with many companions, and parts where you are alone. Lately I find myself going through life almost alone, not totally alone, since I'm a Christian, I have Jesus, but with no close human companions, and, I won't sugarcoat it, it sucks monkey nuts. But how is steel tempered? Through heat, hammer and anvil. Likewise we are tempered by loneliness, adversity and trial, to become better people. Going back to my steel analogy, much like slag is removed from metal as it's being refined, we have to remove things and people from our lives, when they hurt us. I recently had a sort of falling out with a friend, and when we reconciled, I realized that she was hurting me more than standing by me, so I've made a tough decision, I cut her out of most of my life, to put it bluntly, I don't consider her a friend so much as an acquaintance now. And the truth is, I'm all the better for it. Sure, it hurts, I just ended a friendship for crying out loud, but I feel a sense of relief, like having a weight lifted off my shoulders, like an impurity was removed. My people have a saying; "it is better to be alone than to be in bad company," it's true, shockingly true. I felt that I was in bad company with her, I felt that she felt ashamed in being my friend, that I was a "pity" friend, rather than out of camaraderie, and consequently, she refused to acknowledge me when I made time for her. Friends are a treasure, especially when they go that extra mile for you, but a friend must be a friend at all times, because otherwise it devolves into a parasitic relationship, where you'll be hurt, and they'll go on happy as can be. If you, like me, got to that point, and feel the pain of loss, I'd encourage you to seek solitude, there is a certain peace in being alone, away from other people, and heal yourself. Anyways, ranting over, to summarize, have friends, sure, but don't become reliant on human companionship.

#frienship #loneliness #hurt

Companionship

Where I come from there is a saying; "It is better to be alone than have bad companionship." Friendship, and all relationships really, can be reduced to a quid pro quo. I give you time, energy and attention, and I should expect the same in return. When this happens, friendships flourish, people become closer, and all is well. When this is not the case, then friendships fall apart, and everyone gets hurt. A friend of mine recently recently pointed out that, we, as men, have to love our ladies as Christ loves the church. (And if it isn't abundantly clear by now, yes, I am a Christian, deal with it.). But if that is so; then what of the friend who sends you mixed signals? In Scripture, more specifically Revelations chapter 3; we see a lukewarm church, Laodecia, neither hot nor cold, and it is my belief that such an example can be applied to the mixed signal friend. How so? Very simple, the lukewarm church was, as the adjective implies, neither hot (passionate), nor cold (distant), they were trying to play both sides of the fence. To God, this is an abomination, and He says that He will spit them out because He can't use them for anything. Likewise, if that friend is sending you mixed signals, it means that he/she is lukewarm, that he/she is not passionate nor distant concerning you. This is unacceptable, you either are, or are not, there is no middle ground, a friend who tries to play off that middle ground is only going to hurt you, for when they need you, they will cry out for you; but where are they when you need them? Therein lies the problem, the lukewarm friend does not uphold the quid pro quo, and instead becomes, for lack of a better term, a parasite. So what do we do with this parasite friend? Simply put, confront them, if they don't change remove them from your life, lest you end up hurt and bitter, and finally, move on. Sometimes they do this out of ignorance, and it is up to us to play the bigger role and forgive them. Do so, but make it clear that you do not condone such behavior. If they do so willingly and consciously, then cut them out without hesitation, for if a friend in need is a friend indeed, then what of someone whose need is satisfied? Is that person no longer a friend? That person is using you, and does not respect you for who you are and what you stand for. So in summary; 1. Relationships have to be an equal give and take 2. When the give and take is not equal, or there are mixed feelings, address the issue directly 3. If the person was ignorant of their conduct, forgive them, if they were conscious of it, remove them. 4. If you don't have self-respect, don't expect others to respect you. Safe travels, and Merry Christmas; Wandering Blade

#relationship #self respect #quid pro quo

The imperfections of memory; and how they make things perfect

Ever notice when you are witness to, or participate in an event, and you use some form of media to record or preserve that moment, that that's all you can remember later on? I'm the kind of person who likes to enjoy the moment, savor it, commit everything I can to memory, not have to rely on some device to immortalize it for me. I've found that it makes for better memories, I can recall sounds, smells, sights and even touch better without the aid of modern technology than with it. We've become so dependent on recording with our electronic devices that we don't record with our brains, we stop living life and just become observers, like an audience in an interactive film. Let me pit a challenge to you; next time you are involved in something joyous or momentous, don't reach for the camera, don't press record, live the event, be a part of it, commit it to memory, and I can guarantee that these memories will be worth more and more precious than even the most expensive camera shots. Safe travels; Wandering Blade

#memory #livelife

The Gate of Gamers; or why we all failed

Hey;

It's been a long while, mainly due to some personal stuff, but I'm back!

Recently, I've been doing some thinking on the whole GamerGate issue, and no matter what side you're on, there are some real issues to be hashed out here.

First; the issue of misogyny in video games; for that seems to be the one that causes people jump on the bandwagon. While it's true that women have been over-sexualized in the past, the truth is that there is now a sense of equality in gaming, true, some developers are used to reinforcing this trope, but I'd say it goes both ways now. Men are put in a reasonably similar roles, it's not perfect, but it's getting there. The solution to this problem is simple, either don't put the characters in that kind of role, or make it equal for both.

Second; and the major issue of GamerGate, at least in my opinion, is the issue of journalistic integrity, now don't get me wrong, love who you love, date who you date, so long as it doesn't compromise your integrity. In the case of journalists, this means if you have a relationship with someone in the industry you report on, keep it out of your work, you can't favor him or her with your work. This is exactly what is the heart of the matter. Some journalists have or had relationships with developers, and that's OK, so long as it doesn't reflect in their work, the whole issue of GamerGate is really this, that journalists compromised their much- vaunted integrity, and favored them in their work. Solution; keep it in your bed, not in your work.

In the end, the truth of the matter is that we, as consumers, failed in noticing this before, and that they, the journalists, failed to hold each other and themselves accountable. Blame falls on all sides, and that's the honest-to-God truth.

Lessons of the the Day:

1. Never compromise your integrity, no matter what is offered for doing so.

2. Hold yourself and your peers accountable, otherwise you fail them and yourself in the largest way imaginable.

#gamergate accountability

Academic Inquisition in the 21st and a half Century (Part 1/2)

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DISCLAIMER: POST CONTAINS RELIGIOUS/ CONTROVERSIAL CONTENT; LEAVE PRECONCEPTIONS HERE. AUTHOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR BRUISED EGOS AND HURT FEELINGS

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Hello!

It's been too long since my last post, and now that I have some thing important to talk about, I felt the need to post, note that in this post I am defending the Christian viewpoint of the origin of everything, since I am a Christian.

Academic Freedom. We all are (or at least should be) familiar with it's meaning. The freedom that we have the right to choose what and why we believe.

We mistakenly believe that we have this in the classroom. However; in my experience, and that of many others, it is very clear that this is not so, one particular issue is the clearest example today.

The issue in question? Evolution vs Intelligent Design (Creationism).

Let's start with a little context:

Concerning Creationism: In the '90's and the early part of the 21st century, we have, as a society, systematically removed God from school. Consequently, Creationism was removed as well, and now both are considered academic folly. This theory posits that an Intelligent Designer, existing outside of space and time, created the universe, and all objects inside said universe, and manipulated the circumstances so that life could develop.

Concerning Evolution: Theory based on Charles Darwin's studies. This theory posits that all life on Earth is descended from a common mother organism, and that said organism came to live on Earth via unknown means. This theory relies on Natural Selection, which states that any inadequate traits are weeded out naturally by selective reproduction.

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Now then, back to the heart of the matter. If academic freedom were truly allowed, then we would be allowed to study both, and freely be able to arrive at a conclusion of our own choosing.

This is not the case; instead, anyone who even so much as mentions God or Creationism, is ridiculed and labeled an academic failure that thinks the Earth is only 6000 years old.

Conversely; if a person (student or otherwise) believes in Evolution, he or she is accepted as a normal human being. Even if the person's only real reason for believing in Evolution is "just because"

Let's look at the arguments for both sides in a very simplified manner to see which makes more sense:

Creationism:

God, existing outside the universe, creates and manipulates said universe, making said universe habitable, and subsequently created life.

Time and space have a definite beginning, most likely billions of years ago.

All life was created; with room to adapt to changing circumstances.

Evolution via Big Bang: (Because Evolution does not explain the origin of the universe)

The universe is the result.....something (since there is no general consensus, just that God is not the something in question), and that this universe by self-arrangement, is habitable.

All life on Earth originated from a common ancestor, and that said ancestor either arrived via a celestial body, or developed naturally.

All life on Earth has progressed via the weeding out of bad/ defective genes and traits.

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I don't know about you, and in fact, I encourage you to make up your own mind, after conducting the relevant research on your own; but to me, Evolution has quite a few holes in the theory, let's take a look:

Origin of the universe: There are varying theories here, from parallel membranes colliding to a gravitational singularity. All have one thing in common, God did not play a role here, it all just happened on it's own. Needless to say, it is impossible by any definition of the word, for parallel universes or membranes to interact. If there was a gravitational singularity, then the universe could not have existed, since the singularity would have collapsed everything on itself.

Habitability of the Universe: Evolution argues that the Earth is an aggregate of, for lack of better term, celestial leftovers and happened to do so in just the right place for organic life to develop. All of this happens without an Intelligence behind it. If this was the case, then why is there no other planet in the habitable zone capable of supporting life?

Natural Selection: Unnecessary or bad traits are filtered out by not allowing the organism with these traits to reproduce. If this is the case; why do we have amazingly complex creatures such as the fire beetle? The entire species would have died within a few generations due to being eaten and self-immolation trying to get the mixture just right to not burn itself. Clearly science has yet to explain this to us,

What lies at the heart of this argument is human pride and arrogance, especially in the academic community. Have you ever noticed that the most humble and open-minded people tend to not have advanced studies while academia tends to, as a whole, tend to be close-minded and condescending? Some (like a certain host of the Cosmos reboot) think that religion is a holdover for the uneducated, and that the fact of the matter is that science will transform all who study it into atheists eventually.

And there is where I base my argument on why Evolution is so prevalent. Scientists are like peacocks, strutting themselves to gain recognition, consequently, when one gains recognition, others try to emulate that scientist, down to that one, particular, scientist's beliefs.

Part 2 tomorrow!

Safe Travels

Wandering Blade

#freedom #creationist debate

Live by the Sword, Die by the Fist

In life, especially when one leads others, it is important to adhere to a fixed set of values.

If we don't, we risk falling into double standards, and all the crises that that causes, especially within groups. Trust is implicit and necessary for a group to grow into a team, in order to have trust in each other, the best way to do this is to practice what we preach.

Now, I don't mean to say that one is always living up to these ideals, We will all have moments of weakness, but the challenge is to rise above these moments of weakness, there is where we show true honor and strength. When we have the humility to admit when we are wrong, or have wronged others, we have a moral obligation to repent and make amends, in whatever way possible.

In short, in everything you do, do what you mean and mean what you do.

Enjoy the new year, and enjoy your travels throughout 2014.

Wandering Blade

#wanderingblade #humility #honesty

Pride is a stony path, humility is a smooth one

Is it right to hate the weak?

I don't feel that it is. As a student of the martial arts, it goes against the virtues of bushido, to scoff at the weak is to lack benevolence, to lack honor, and like a finely tuned machine, all 7 virtues need to be present, or else it is not complete. Humility and benevolence are integral to a warrior's code.

The Bible talks about this rather well too, (if you haven't figured it out yet, yes, I am a Christian, no, I don't pass judgement on people. And no, I'm just stating an opinion here.), "Pride goes before the fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction." (Proverbs 16:18). History has shown us time and again that people with arrogance and haughty attitudes are eventually brought down low. Lower than the people they originally despised. Only then do they truly learn humility, and when they do, they see the error of their ways, and hopefully, change for the better.

That being said, never pity the weak, the last thing they need is to feel pitied, it's like pouring salt on a wound. It doesn't help. Instead, show compassion and help them become stronger. Give them the tools, give them the mentoring, but allow them to come into their own.

Lesson of the day: Never pity the weak, never trample them, and help them become stronger.

May your journey be pleasant;

Wandering Blade

(P.S. MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR)

#wanderingblade #pride #comes #before #the #fall #humility #benevolence #bushido

Fresh start over (expires the day before use)

Fresh starts are something that we rarely come upon in life, and when we do, we usually have to sever ties with our old life.

When the opportunity arises, we must seize it. A chance to start over is a chance to redefine ourselves as people, a chance to discard the unnecessary, and refine the essential.

In kendo, we strive to be swift, swifter than our opponent, lest we give them the opportunity to distract us and allow ourselves the luxury of defeat. In order to accomplish this, we discard all the unnecessary things, all the movements that don't contribute anything to our goal. To be blunt, we need to move faster and smarter evermore.

Likewise in life, we must discard all that is does not contribute to our goals, and focus on what brings us closer to our goal.

In the end, weed out those things that don't help you in your goals.

Safe travels,

Wandering Blade

#wanderingblade

Pushing the rock up the hill is a two man job

Hey,

It's been a while since I last posted. College and ROTC are in the crescendo of hectic operations, so my moments are few and far between.

Over the past few months, I've seen a trend of people refusing to look beyond their little worldview or job description, and refuse to help others. Is this the case for you too? For me it's an endless source of frustration, nobody benefits from this, but we all lose.

My problem with this line of thinking was proven this past week, we (my detachment) had a huge training operation, and everyone was asked (and in some cases ordered), to help prepare. Some of us, most of us, actually set aside our tasks to help, and we managed to get tye operation done, but those who refused to help, those people became dead weight to us.

People who refuse to step outside of their little box, even when they are asked to help, are truly the worst kind of people. These are the folk that would rather let others fail from the get go, than actually roll their sleeves up to help. They have small minds, in my opinion, and as a result, lack the necessary mental tools to look beyond themselves.

As a martial artist and as a swordsman, I've always felt it wrong to succumb to such shortsidedness, if a friend or a coworker is in need of help, we should be willing to look beyond our troubles to help them with theirs, and maybe they can return the favor.

How do we deap with such wonderful (and I use thr word with a heavy dose of sarcasm) people? In the heat of the moment, it might be best to simply let them spin their wheels in a corner, don't let them get the best of you, if they won't help, then forget about them and find someone who can and will. Afterwords, tell them, in a respectful manner, that you expected more from them. Disappointment can be a powerful tool for personal change.

Anyways, enough ranting/teaching for now,

Safe travels;

Wandering Blade

#wanderingblade #cooperation #teamwork

Part 2

Part one of last weekend's road trip.

Few things compare to the majesty of the sun.

Fighting for sport vs fighting for honor

In the martial arts, we fight to cultivate ourselves, to be better people. However, with the boom of martial arts into popular culture, we see a rise in people fighting for sport. I believe this dilutes the essence of the training, and degrades our lifestyle in general. Don't get me wrong, I understand the need to test one's skill against a live opponent, but even so, there is a difference between someone fighting for their life, or their honor, and someone who brawls for a six-figure sum and claims to practice martial arts.

So if the above is true, can mixed martial artists be called martial artists? Or should they be labeled as prize fighters?

#wanderingblade

Do you guys feel that people are power hungry by nature, or as a result of their position?

Stepping out of the shadows

Hey,

This week has proven interesting so far. Mainly because I went with some of my friends and fellow ronin to the local yearly anime convention to perform a kendo/iaido exhibition, and the results its garnered from our former sensei.

To make a long story short, we've been civil during this whole affair, and when one of our own tested for first dan in NY, we were asked to try to coexist with our former dojo peacefully. Sadly enough, this past weekend and yesterday showed us that this is not meant to be. We went at the behest of the event coordinator, and did not engage in advertising; we actually went as far to say that we are not recruiting right now, to give us their contact info so that, when we do start recruiting, they can join. Our formerly beloved sensei caught wind of what we did, and that we had announced ourselves as the Puerto Rico Kendo Club, and that we had not registered it yet withtl the local government.

This is where things start going south, he registered it, in his name, so that we cannot use that name (we had a backup just in case), and calls one of our newer ronin, to grill him on why he was there. After failing to grill him, he started to slander most of the group, (it turns out that since I was the only one who did it face to face, it makes me more honorable, if you can believe it).

We've kept ourselves quiet, so as to let the foolish ones keep digging their own graves, but soon, things will come to a head, and I can't help but hope that when it happens, only feelings are hurt.

Anyways, if there's something to be learned from all this, it's that some people will not accept that you have stepped out of their shadow, and have started to move on to bigger and better things. When you deal with people like these, its easier to just leave them be, and do what you need to to ensure that you don't lose your honor.

Peace,

Wandering Blade

P.s. Last trimester of college started today, here's to hoping it goes well.

#wanderingblade

Ronin once more (or how I've learned how to embrace wandering once more)

This past week, I've had to make some painful decisions. And more than that I've had to cut an important group of people from my life.

Life is, at it's most boiled down form, is a series of choices, and we base these choices on the information we have available to us.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've lost faith in my (now former) sensei. If you understood the subtext of the above sentence then you can pat yourself on the back, and skip ahead, otherwise, read on. I basically severed ties with my (now former) kendo dojo. This was because of some questionable actions, and tbe persecution of one of the sempai for saving the dojo's face.

Since I confronted my sensei, after collecting information from all sources involved, formulated my course of action and my opinion, and proceeded. He changed his story on me more than once, and, made the fatal mistake of allowing his wife to interfere in a conversation between men. He was saddened by my choice, but, as a man, respected it. It least it was amicable.

So, ever since then, I've been contemplating what to do. Some of my fellow exiles and I have labeled ourselves ronin, since we have no sensei right now. Being the wanderer that I am, I've decided to continue to practice with them. At least for the short term.

In any case, it'll be interesting, stay tuned to find out how it goes,

Peace out,

Wandering Blade.

#wanderingblade

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