I was a karate kid...

No, not THE karate kid but a karate kid.

I grew up as a military brat which meant that my family and I moved every couple of years, even more than that sometimes. I was ALWAYS the new kid in school, somehow always showing up in the middle of a semester. Being bigger than most of the kids my age also made me stick out even more, especially to every school and neighborhood bully known to man.

At times I felt like I must have had an irremovable bull's eye painted on my forehead.

I remember the sixth grade especially. During that particular school year, I received over a dozen"licks" (whacks) - with a very hard wooden paddle, all of them for fighting. The not so funny things is though, I never started one single fight in my entire life.

I was always simply defending myself.

By the time I reached junior high school, I had had it with being bullied. Although I could fight back pretty good, I still got my butt kicked way too often. It was time to do something about it, so I signed up for a karate class at the local youth center.

Just prior to signing up, the martial arts legend Bruce Lee had become my hero. I was gonna' become an American Bruce Lee! I dedicated my life to karate. I never missed a practice which took place twice a week and was located a couple of miles from my home. I was so dedicated to the cause, that since I was unable to enlist a ride from anyone, I would jog to practice, practice for two hours, and then jog home.

I got into pretty good shape pretty darn fast. My self-confidence also grew at an amazing pace. I found that I could learn the forms and the moves very quickly and that I could advance from belt to belt easily. You should have seen me with the nunchucks, man was I fast. I could spin those "babies" so fast you couldn't hardly see them. I wasn't perfect at it though, several times I hit myself in the head by accident and nearly knocked myself out.

Things were going very well for me until two dramatic events occurred within close proximity of each other.

Number one, my hero Bruce Lee suddenly and unexplainedly died.

I was devasted. My world had been shattered.

Number two, my Sensei's (karate instructor) daughter took a sudden liking to me. That would have been okay with me if I had been attracted to her in a recipricol manner. Unfortunately I wasn't, in fact I found her very unattactive and even very annoying. Seeing that she was a fellow student in the class though, I could not avoid her.

The problem was, her mother (yes, my instructor was a female - a very tough female), had decided in her mind that I was the man (boy) for her daughter. Why, I don't know. But suddenly I found myself being constantly pressured to date a girl that I almost found repulsive - sad, but true. The more I resisted the relationship, the tougher things got for me at practice.

It seemed to me at the time, that I was always getting myself into very strange situations!

Anyway, I did the manly thing and without notice suddenly quit taking karate lessons. Unfortunately for me, there were no other dojos anywhere near where I lived and so karate got put on the back burner. In fact, I never took another "offcial" lesson again.

There were some positive twists though. First of all, I was never accosted by a bully again. Without doing or saying anything, somehow - miracously, the bull's eye had been removed from my forehead. Secondly, I was eventually elected president of the high school karate club thus making me feel more like a part of something instead of an outsider. Thirdly, my newly acquired self-confidence enabled me to particpate in future activties that requried some degree of daring and bravery. And finally, with what little martial arts skills that I had aquired in less than a year, I was able to defend myself or someone else effectively throughout the decades to follow.