Jason watched five minutes ago as I rescued a wasp trapped in our house. I slipped a plastic cup over it, while murmuring: "I mean you no harm. You are safe. If you will allow me, I will return you to your home. I understand you are afraid. You are safe..." Jason cowered on the stairs as I slipped an index card under the cup, then carefully took the wasp outside and set it free. I told Jason that if I was a wasp, I would want to meet a human like me. That empathy is being the change you wish to see in the world. He said: "but if I was a wasp, and I met a human who wasn't like you, I would sting him. Repeatedly." And if that isn't the essence of the martial arts, I don't know what is. Every moment can be a lesson.
About Me
- Steven Barnes
- For the last thirty years or so I’ve been a lecturer, coach, novelist and television writer. For the last forty years I’ve been involved variously in the martial arts, and for all my life I’ve studied and enjoyed yoga. Not that I worked at it as hard and honestly as I should have—I’d be a combination of BKS Iyengar and Bruce Lee if I had. After publishing about three million words of science fiction (including the New York Times bestsellers The Legacy of Heorot and The Cestus Deception) and having about twenty hours of produced television shows (including The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Andromeda, and Stargate, as well as four episodes of the immortal Baywatch), I’ve got opinions on the writing life. After earning black belts in Judo and Karate, and practicing the Indonesian art of Pentjak Silat Serak for the last fifteen, well, I have some opinions there, as well. And having struggled to live consciously since childhood...well, those opinions are probably strongest of all.
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