ACV Kids on Aikido
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Aikido gets you prepared for when you get older. It teaches you to say no to drugs
and smoking, but only if you focus on it and not goof around. Aikido gets you to
know the techniques well. Also, if someone tries to rob, murder or kidnap you, the
techniques will help you. It is not something to go around and say, "you
better not mess with me because I know aikido." No way, you will just pick a
fight. Aikido helps you in school to focus so you learn and pay attention.
Isabel Sullivan
Age 10, Green Belt
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| Isabel Sullivan, throwing her brother
Blake |
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(Editor's Note: In order to pass the final children's test [to brown belt], an
essay on the meaning of aikido is required.)
Harmonizing
by Alden Ladd
Age 13, Brown Belt
Aikido can be translated to mean "the way of harmonizing with the spirit of
the universe." I interpret this to mean that aikido is the way of
understanding and accepting the things around us. This does not mean that through
aikido you will gain knowledge about everything, but that aikido helps us to put
ourselves in another personŐs shoes and understand them and their feelings. Moving
with a person, as we learn in aikido practice, helps reduce the damage of conflict.
This is what I think aikido means by harmony. Understanding is the key to
non-violent resolution. If we understand that a person is angry, and this anger is
what caused them to act in a certain way, our understanding helps us to be less
angry with them and to not come into conflict with them. This is true even with
animals. If we realize that the bee stung us because it was acting from instinct,
then we don't take offense and we don't strike out.
Although in aikido this is not what we're being shown directly, it is definitely
the mindset that we learn. My years of training have helped me to do this. I think
that through aikido I have learned to understand and harmonize with other
people.
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