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Aikido is my Middle Way by Sean Harrington Life-giving sword -- it sounds a bit like peace through superior firepower. With a vocabulary of colorful terms like cutting through and draining blood, it can be a rather confusing concept. Knowing that two people having attained the same level of skill within any martial art could take different paths: one could become the town hero; the other the junior prom slasher. Should the techniques be made available to the general public at all? Some would argue - Life and death are the same. You cannot have one without the other. Scientifically speaking, I would agree. However, the first noble precept of Buddhism is: Do not kill. Yoda needs Darth, as Darth needs Yoda. Perhaps. But who taught Darth to trust the force or all those real cool light saber moves? And if Darth or Luke, for that matter, take a life while in Big Force Head Zen Mode, is it not still a death? Rumor has it that O'Sensei had a strong dislike for Zen. Could it be that its implied indifference towards life and death did not jive with his loving -protection-for-all aikido groove? I sit at least twice a week. But will Zen in and of itself make the world a safer place to live, or me more ethical or virtuous? That's about as likely as a 3-eyed Tibetan monster having my 108 delusions for breakfast. O'Sensei wrote, "True victory is victory over oneself. One must first learn to control oneself before attempting to harmonize and control others. Without good balance and control over oneself, one can neither avoid an attack nor apply an effective technique on others. It is through self control that one can learn to enjoy a more harmonious way of life." In my pre-aikido days, I lived in fear. Fear of others, fear of self. Fear of success and of failure. I was led about by my cravings. I suffered, as did those around me. Has the life giving sword of aikido made me more ethical, virtuous, etc.? Yes. Master Yoda said, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." Will I ever become a monk? Not likely. Warrior monk sounds romantic, doesn't it? The reality is that it gives rise to various armies of god, all licensed to kill, packing Holy Passports to Paradise. Or, in the case of the Hard Core Zen Head: Did I kill? Did I not? Does it matter - fluffy clouds, moon shadow, Denial River. Aikido teaches loving protection for all natural things and that our actions should be in harmony with nature's laws. It stresses the importance of changing your adversary's heart with the power of love or by breaking the enemy's fighting spirit, not his bones. This is not an entirely new concept. Certain Native American tribes, the Sioux for one, used the coup stick, a stick that often resembled a large cane. Warriors believed that to touch a man with a stick and steal his weapons or, pull him from his horse was braver than just killing him. In Japan, it was considered a far worse fate to be bound and gagged than sliced and diced on the battlefield. We, on the other hand, are living in America in the year 2000. We have no code of honor, other than "all is fair in love and war". The likelihood of Billy Bob, the racist, laying down his buck knife in shame and confining himself to his teepee (to ponder the lecture on the evils of racism he would have received, had I immobilized him face down in the Wal-Mart parking lot) is, for lack of a better word, a joke. There are those whose fighting spirit cannot be broken and all the peace, love and understanding in the universe will not change their hearts. If you are the looking-at-the-world-through-rose-colored glasses type, well, Happy Day. But, please, don't tell me that these people pose no threat or suggest that I pay them no attention. I have been to the mountaintop and I know better. Names will never hurt me. Well said. I agree, but a great many of these people have weapons far more powerful than sticks and stones. We sometimes refer to these people as sick predators -- sick as in ill; suffering from disease. Some diseases are terminal and contagious. For those sick predators immune to the medicine of love, what are we to do? As aikidoka, we must strive to restore harmony, not just to bull frogs, dung beetles and old growth forests, but to hummingbirds and human beings, as well. Mitsugi Saotome, a direct student of O Sensei for 15 years, wrote: "Love of the enemy is a very strict love. Sometimes, for the protection of others, that love means destruction. This is not an excuse for wrongdoing. To take the responsibility for destruction, nature's cleansing system must be fully understood. The object of the destruction must truly be a danger to social welfare. Society must be protected. The weak and the children must be protected. The rights of the individual and of individuality must be protected. But personal ego must not be involved. Group or national ego must not be involved. Greed or prejudice must not be involved. It must be an act of purification, of true misogi. Right or wrong, the destruction becomes your karma, and you must accept the spiritual consequences for your action." Because I seem to have had more than my fair share of opportunities to restore harmony, my peers have accused me of looking for trouble. That translates to "blame the victim." I should be free to travel about, with or without my interracial children, free from threats of violence or racial slurs; just as their mother should feel free to dress as she chooses, like a little hottie, if you will, without fear of rape and the impending "she asked for it" syndrome. O Sensei wrote, "Loyalty and devotion lead to bravery. Bravery leads to the spirit of self-sacrifice. The spirit of self-sacrifice creates trust in the power of love." So have a chat with your neighborhood wife beater, selling-smack- to-kids-rapist-pedophile sith lord. Change the poor thing's heart with the power of love. He probably had a bad childhood anyway. As for me, I'm gonna git me an old pickup truck with a gun rack in the back; load up my life-giving sword, coup stick, and a few love grenades... head on down to the skinhead party. And if you wanna take 'em away, you'll have to pry 'em from my cold dead fingers, 'cause I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.