Today Impossible, Tomorrow Possible.

Martial arts is full of symbolism.  Traditional styles in particular.  When you walk into our academy you'll see the ATA symbol, the Gracie triangle, the Songahm Star and more.  But some of the most powerful symbols aren't always so obvious.

Our founding Grand Master (the Eternal Grand Master) H. U. Lee lived his life as an amazing symbol of what can be accomplished.  His saying:  "Today impossible, tomorrow possible" has changed so many lives.  For me, the most powerful example occurred in Feb of 2000....

The setting was our regional Black Belt Camp.  Black Belt camp consists of a series of classes taught by Master Instructors.  These classes last for two days and are very physically demanding.  Combine that with little time to sleep, an unfamiliar bed and long travel and by the final ceremony on Saturday night everyone is exhausted.

This year, we were very lucky to have Grand Master himself at camp.  He had been there several times before, but it had been a few years.  This year the ceremony was to be a little more formal.  We were asked to line up by rank.  When we entered the room we saw Grand Master seated on an elevated stage at the front.  He was sitting cross legged with his arms crossed in front of his chest.  He had his eyes closed and was breathing slowly.  We were instructed to silently find our seat in a chair (a nice padded chair) and cross our arms the same way and wait until everyone was seated and ready.

We were very tired and it was difficult to sit up straight.  Most of us slouched more and more as we waited for about 200 black belts to find their seats.  Our arms were exhausted and instead of holding steady and strong in front of us, our arms began to rest against our chests, our hands began to sink lower and lower.    Imagine holding your arms straight out from your shoulders.  It's easy at first, but very quickly becomes very difficult.  That is how this was.

I don't know how long we sat that way.  It might have been only 10 min, it might have been 30.  What I do know, is that while we were struggling to sit up straight and  stay awake, Grand Master sat rock solid and not moving or sagging an inch.  He was over 60 years old at this time and this could not have been easy for him.  At the time I felt a little bit of guilt over my lack of being as disciplined as him.

Fast forward a couple of months.  We later learned that Grand Master was in the final stages of lung cancer.  He died in September of that same year.  At the time of camp he had only 7 months left to live and was undergoing aggressive chemo therapy.  Honestly, he should have stayed home and rested.  Instead he was at camp with us.  When I learned of his illness, I looked back at the ceremony in a new light.  If he could be so strong and disciplined while going through that, surely I could have dug a little deeper and tried a little harder.  This is a lesson I'll never forget.  So much of Grand Master H. U. Lee's life was lived as a silent example to his students.  He didn't tell us what he was doing.  He lived it.

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