Simply put, what martial arts do you do, and for what reasons do you do martial arts? Do you do it for self defense? Do you do it for fitness? Do you do it for, as Bruce Lee said, self expression? Do you do it because it's fun? Do you do it as a sport?
I ask this question because I often frequent places were arguments break out about which form of martial arts is better, and one of the things I realized is that students of different forms argue past each other, because they think everyone takes martial arts for the same reason they do. People that come from a traditional martial art or martial art with no sport component think people that take martial arts are only concerned to with self defense. People from modern martial arts or martial arts with a sport component think people are only concerned with the combat effectiveness of a martial art. A true martial artist realises people take martial arts for different reasons, there is no "right" reason to take martial arts.
15 Apr 2011, 11:36 am
