Knocking Out in Beer Land!

She could see it unfold every time she watched him in a match. The two little kids would walk to the lines that were taped in the center of the mat. The referee would say Hajime! And the two young judokas would approach each other and take their grips. Once they were face to face, it would be then that the other little kid would notice the scar on her son’s cheek.

He had gotten this scar a while back in an accident with someone’s “loving family pet.” (Loving family pets do not leave scars like the ones her son has.) But things like this happen in life. Sometimes we brush up against the wrong people for just long enough to let it impact our lives. Sometimes we can’t even tell right away that they are the wrong people. But when these things happen, we either heal and grow stronger or we don’t. The choice is ours.

Once the other kid would notice her sons scar, they would always fixate on it for a moment. Sometimes it would be a quick glance, other times she could see the other kid react in visual confusion, but in that fraction of time his opponent wasted in distraction, her son would strike, attack and win the match. He had learned to expect and recognize these moments when they came and to use them to his advantage. She did not teach him this. He taught her this. This came from within him. And they both used this strategy quite successfully in life.