For those Concerned with Change..

I’m journaling out of order again; let’s step back a couple weeks, to the same weekend of the tournament and the fire. May 2^nd was overall a good day, the tournament was great, the fire was a downer, but not enough to keep me down for long. The two events had put me in a restless mood and I felt like breaking routine so I called up a fellow black belt (Sifu LaRocque) to go to her birthday party. I was going to go alone, which I normally wouldn’t do, I can be a bit quiet sometimes and it’s nice to have backup, but I called Sifu Edge to get Khona’s number and she decided to come along with Sifu Webb. I had a fantastic time at the party, I’m glad I decided to go. If you’re reading this Khona, thanks for a fun time and thanks again for the Blue Label.

Sunday morning, the day after a ridiculously busy and late day, I get woken up with a phone call at 10:30. It was a friend calling me to ask if I wanted to bag trees with some Junior Forest Wardens at the Muttart Conservatory. As my mind struggled to wake up and contemplate what bagging trees meant (I think I just assumed he had meant to say plant trees) I groggily agreed to meet him there, hung up, rolled over and went back to sleep for an hour before getting up again. Bagging trees entails separating individual trees from tree farm bundles, putting each tree in an Arbor Day bag and then filling a cardboard box with 50 trees. The trees get shipped to schools all over Alberta and handed out to the grade one students so that they can take a tree home to plant on Arbor Day. In two hours, myself and about 25 other people managed to bag around 11, 500 trees, enough for the entire parkland region.

It was a pretty cool event and a fantastic way to use a couple hours on a Sunday. I thought it was really neat how much a handful of volunteers can accomplish with very little effort. I thought it would have been a perfect project for Silent River Kung Fu and told my friend’s mom, Terry Garrett, the chief warden of Alberta and organizer of everything, that if she was ever looking for extra helping hands for the many projects she does I could roundup some people. She said she would keep us in mind so maybe we will create a Kung Fu/Forest Warden alliance…together we could be unstoppable Mwahaha.

Going home after this really made some things sink in. Since starting the UBBT I have changed. I seem to find myself being more and more productive, helping out, and volunteering for things I rarely used to do. Since I started the UBBT I have been living a more vibrant, full and productive life. I know that’s the whole idea of the UBBT but its kind of funny how it can sneak up on you. I am now much more involved with living well. When I started the test I was worried about not having free time for fun and relaxation. I still do, it just means I’m doing more productive, fulfilling things in my spare time and giving less time to sitting on my but doing nothing. If I can keep up this intensity I should have a pretty sweet life ahead of me.

Something else I’ve noticed since starting the UBBT, much to my amazement, is the effect it has had on friends of mine that aren’t even doing it. I’ve noticed a subtle but definite shift in attitude in the people I’m around a lot. It seems that across the board, people I am close to seem to be doing more these days. Maybe it’s just a coincidence of timing but I doubt it. Just talking about the things we’ve been doing in the UBBT, and my actions, has inspired some people to try and be more involved. I honestly do think I’ve inspired some positive change in people and it feels pretty cool.

So when we talk about trying to change the world through Kung Fu, we have proof its possible! Leading by example works and can spread like wildfire. I believe to create great change we have to start very small, with ourselves, gradually our actions are noticed and adapted by others who in turn pass it on to others. Then when enough time has passed, a revolution has occurred without anyone really being aware of it happening. Society’s ideals follow the ideals of its citizens, change can’t be expected to happen suddenly or through force. It has to come naturally, through the free will of the people it concerns. Once everyone is on the same page change comes easily.

Writing this remind me of a couple lines from a song that I like. They seem relevant to the topic so here:

“We are a part of the loud minority and as such we are a part of those concerned with change! We are a part of the loud minority and as such we are a part of those concerned with freedom!”