Day 10 - Born to Fight!

Today was an interesting day, as I had the opportunity to watch fights at Threppasit Stadium, the local stadium where fights go down. Tourists, locals gather here to watch the fights. What was really cool about this was I got to sit with the Master himself, Kru Yodtong at the VIP coach! (Or as Kru Eric would call it, pimping it with Master Yodtong!)

The fights started with children fighting from an age of 5 through to young adults. All showed tremendous heart to fight the fight,  irrespective of age. What was especially interesting to watch were the children. Being brought up in the west and a suburban family life, I was treated as, well how you'd expect a child would be treated, pampered in hindsight. In comparison to what these children had gone through, i had been brought up in a sheltered bubble from the world, inside a safe, protected reality.

There was no mercy, no sympathy shown between the young combatants and just as little sympathy among the crowd, who were mixed with people who placed wagers on who would win and others looking to observe the spectacle. The children were treated as their adult counterparts. Profitting from pitting children against one another in a ring of combat where they can use shins, elbows, fists, knees to knock each other down...not happening any time soon back in the States. From one aspect, on the superficial level....putting together such an event can be perceived as cruel and brutal to the children. However, from a deeper level, it teaches the children fairness, to earn their keep...self-reliance...picking themselves up instead of waiting for someone to carry them along...maturity, what it feels like to be treated as an adult human being, man or woman...among other things..

These are some of the gifts that martial arts had helped me to start cultivating in my life. I feel like I learned these lessons later in life because of my sheltered upbringing. You graduate college, handed a piece of paper,  and society calls you an adult...after 'graduating', i didn't obtain this sense of growth or maturity, irrespective of the bloated ego and intellect. Being placed in front an audience with another man to stand up and fight at the age of 24 exposed the shit out of who I really was...In my opinion, these children have been given gifts at a young age that money and paper degrees can't buy....