Bubuyog Talk 3: FMA

Have you watched the Bourne Identity or Taken? The action scenes in these movies are too breathtaking. Every move of attack is so precise and calculated that every contact is so fatal. What amazes me is that these very artful martial arts and very deadly defense came from our ancient defenses. Yes, it is called callie alongside with arnis and eskrima fighting. It is called the Filipino MArtial arts.

I am always an avid fan of martial arts. When i was young, I always accompany my siblings in their taekwondo class just to spare some time to imitate the kicks of their masters. I love the sparring time in their routinary practice. I was not able to join my siblings because i have no money to pay for their so expensive fees.

When I was in second year highschool, we had a tricycle driver who happened to have a blackbelt in aikido. He spent saturdays with us just to teach us the fundamentals of this self defense. He encouraged us (my brothers) to honed our self defense skills to protect us anywhere. Little did we know that he was a secret agent working for the AFP and he needed to survey the streets of the city to accomplish a secret mission. and of course the smartest idea to do his undercover schemes is through being a tricycle driver. He taught us very well that in the four months he stayed with us, he left us with discipline and courage to protect ourselves from danger.

And then came college, where i got the opportunity to learn taekwondo free of charge.. ( because it was in the pe curriculum) I was then trained to be a varsity player. I was in awe with my other players because they are really good. Though i got a belt and trained in the SPEARS gym for two years, my promotion diminished as i shifted to other sports-- basketball.

Yet all that i learned from my coaches i kept in my heart especiall the self defenses.

The most important thing i learned from these martial arts is to protect myself from any iompending danger and the best way to do that is to run-- yes you heard it right... RUN away.

And i followed it. I remembered a night when i had to use the advise. I was going home then after our evening basketball practice from School. I took my usual route, the dark alley heading the Supreme COurt building and entering the upper session road. I love the streets then because it was too silent and breezy which calms my mind. When i was about to exit the street, three men suddenly approached me and asked for my ID. I distanced myself from them and weighing what they want. Subconciously, i was already planning to attack whatever happened. I tightened my grip to my umbrella. They continued to approach me and asked for my ID and then suddenly, one threatened me that if i dont' give what they want i wll be like one of my schoolmate who was stabbed near the dorm. I was alarmed when the other one went to my back and the one got even hyper and shouted at me. I was about to attack when a truck suddenly passed by. I took this time to asked for help, luckily a taxi stopped infront of me. i ran towards the taxi and asked for help. I was taken home safely. It was creepy and i promised to myself not to pass that alley again at midnight.

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In our lifetime, we always seek for self preservation and we always want to defend ourselves from any danger that would incapacitate us or to end our lives. We tend to protect ourselves from anything that would hurt us. We want to limit our exposure to risks. And because we already know the result to any hurt that we faced, we tend to become more and more intolerable of pain.

It's basically human nature, noone is to blame. But it is upon us to rise up and face the challenge, to grasp the learnings of the mistake we committed and to glued ourselves with courage to continue.

We always want to conquer our fear that's why we always always putting up our defenses. or we are too coward to face our being afraid so we hide behind those defenses, like the gears we put up everytime we practice sparring.

Again, it's upon us if we want to take away the gears for our defenses and try to fight without them. It's upon us to attack the problem instead become passive in solving them. It's upon us to conquer the fear inside. In the end, the most important thing is not in winning or losing, its standing to fight, to have strength to attack and take the risks........

kyong ne ! si ja!

F.M.A
-- i know a man like you have many defenses, but i will try to tear them down. be ready for my attack!!!!