not sure why, but remembered today this dude who was in a karate class of mine recently. it was a big class with visitors from all over the world because it was the day after the Americas tournament in nyc, and shokei matsui was teaching it.

anyway, this dude in the class was blind and taking karate. he walked in with a friend, possibly a relative, of his who also was a karate student. i admit it seemed odd to me at first that a blind person would take karate, but then i was like: fuck yes dude.

the coolest thing was watching him and his friend go through techniques as part of the class. we were doing some complex blocking combinations that shihan isobe from brazil was making us do, and the blind guy would stand in front of his friend, with his friend reaching over his shoulders to help guide his arms while whispering the names of the techniques into his ear. gedan barai, chudan soto uke, gyaku this, oi that. and the blind guy didn't miss a beat, not one, better than most in the class.

what struck me first was the courage of the blind guy to do what he was doing (probably for him its just what he does...and doesn't strike him as anything special). what also struck me was the closeness of the blind guy and his friend/relative. to be committed to standing behind a guy and whispering japanese names of karate techniques (at a quick tempo no less) right into his ear and sweating with him...very cool.

anyway, that was a good memory, so i wanted to get it out there.