Wear the purple belt.
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 6 comments link this postI did go back to Karate.
I called sensei to find out the details of class and also to ask if I should wear the purple belt.
"Just before I stopped coming, I got my purple belt," I told him on the phone. "I don't remember hardly anything, though. I can't even remember how to tie it. Should I come wearing the white or yellow belt?"
"Wear the purple belt," he said. "It shouldn't take long to get you up to speed."
Lesson one: Teachers have the opportunity to instill confidence in students that don't have any just yet.
I parked my car in front of the building and sat, staring in the dark. It had been a long day at work, the day was late, after the long drive home it would be really late, and I wasn't sure I was up for this mildly terrifying re-entrance. I was looking for an excuse, but instead found myself shoving my gi and purple belt into my bag and walking up the stairs to the area where the classes were. I only recognized a few faces. Five years is a long time; the last time I had done this I was in another decade of life. I felt both amoebic and brittle, completely aged and inflexible yet without any muscle tone to speak of just yet.
Lesson two: It is possible to be opposites all at once, yet still function.
I walked into the dojo holding my purple belt and had to ask a man with a green belt how to tie it. The green belt rank is lower than the purple, and it was the first of many lessons in humility, both from having to learn from lower ranking members and having to take being lined up higher than them while knowing it was based purely on a rank that I couldn't flesh out just yet.
Lesson three: Being the greenhorn doesn't mean you're an idiot.
Sensei was very kind and kept the lesson from being brutal and more about the basic katas I had learned in order to get that purple belt as well as some gentle block and kick exercises. I couldn't remember the Japanese phrases and responses, I'd forgotten most of the Japanese words, I had to be reminded of things like bowing to partners and everything that falls under the category of "basic" but...I also felt more than a twinge of familiarity in the movements that I don't have down perfectly just yet.
Lesson four: The mind and body both remember and forget a lot, generally at the same time.
I confess that I almost hoped I'd be told to come back wearing a lower ranking belt. Sure, it would mean I'd have to test all over again, but it also meant I could sort of coast for a while and fall in the trap of thinking that I didn't have to do any better than the current belt I was at and that I could just relax a bit. Instead, I must rise to the occasion and work to get up to the purple rank, and then push on for the next rank.
How often I do that, show up for work or for an event thinking "I'll just do enough. That should be good."
A few years ago, I spent a week with my uncle. He worked with metal -- wrought iron, plasma cutters, acetylene torches and welding. We had a bang-up time welding and cutting and working gates and fences and making all kinds of stuff in the dimly-lit, coal-heated shop in the coldest week in January. Black coal powder lined our face at the end of the day. When we'd get done with something, he'd tap it and joke that it was "good enough for government work" but all along, his work was meticulous and he taught me that way as well.
He always showed up in his purple belt, the best level he was at -- each day, each project -- while I was there.
I don't want to do good enough work. I want to my current level of best work, in everything. With people. In moments. Doing. Being. Serving.
It isn't the same as being a perfectionist, which is a poison that is all about the result. It's not about competing with others, which is about being the best instead of doing my best. It's about doing my best, which is about attitude. It's about competing with my lazy self and making sure she doesn't win. It's showing up in my purple belt and pursing the next rank that you don't have just yet.
Lesson five: If you have the purple belt, wear the purple belt.
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 11/14/2007 12:01:00 AM
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6 Comments:
I sense cartoons coming up.
Back when I took martial art as a kid back in my native country (about 8 or 9), there were only 4 colors: white, blue, red, and black.
I really think all those extra colors are there to put people through lots of tests costing lots of $$$$$.
By 
David Cho, at
13/11/07 23:52
I didn't have to pay to be tested. I didn't even pay for the belts.
I know it used to be, at one point, white, brown, black. The levels are a way of encouraging us short-attention spanned people who are motivated by visible success to not give up after seven or eight years as a white belt and instead be able to say to ourselves "I moved up a level, and now I pursue the next level."
I don't have a problem with it. That cheap psychology works on me.
By Julie R. Neidlinger, at
14/11/07 00:01
I'm glad you chose to go back to karate. It is never easy to do those things that are outside the comfort zone. But they usually prove to be the most rewarding.
Rey
By Rey, at
14/11/07 17:14
That was really, really good.
As someone who feels I've bumped up against The Peter Principle more than once, "wearing a lower belt" can be very tempting. Right now, I'm struggling with the duties involved in a promotion I received a while back, and the feeling, "I was good at my old job; why don't I just go back to that?" keeps nagging at me. Even though that's not really even an option.
Anyway, thanks for the insight. And the nudge.
By Keith Schooley, at
14/11/07 20:58
Oh, by the way, I like the Karate Kick painting, too.
By Keith Schooley, at
14/11/07 21:20
Thank you, Keith.
That painting was licensed for one-time use by some company in California to use in a print advertisement.
I sure wish I remembered the details, but once the check cleared...
It's a bad karate kick -- poor form. Artistic license, and all that.
