Black Belt at 50, Respect and Responsibility

By Brian L. Kennedy

I was pleased and honored several months ago when the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association presented me with the rank of Black Belt. It was a particularly meaningful to me as Mike Brown Laoshi was my very first Chinese martial arts teacher and returning to the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association after having started there 33 years ago gave me a great feeling of homecoming. Being ranked by the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association also has a special meaning for me because I had lived in Taiwan for the past 15 years and I have a special place in my heart for Taiwanese martial arts and martial artists. Dr. Wong and the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association have strong links to the Taiwanese martial arts world. So it was a double happiness for me to get back with the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association; it was a return to my first martial arts school and it has strong Taiwanese martial arts connections.

I turned 50 years old this year and I got my Black Belt this year. That I think is somewhat unusual; I suspect that most people who make Black Belt tend to do it in their 20s. For example in Taiwan most newly minted Black Belts, which tend to be either Judo or Taekwondo Black Belts, are normally university students. So a new minted Black Belt who is 50 is a wee bit unusual.

I suspect too that “Black Belt status” means something different for a 50 year old than it does for a younger person. I remember when Mike Brown and Dr. Wong first told me that I would be promoted, the first two thoughts that crossed my mind were “responsibility” and “respect.”

By “responsibility” I meant that I now had responsibilities to the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association, I had to see how I could best help the organization. I had to find out what direction the senior people wanted the organization to take, what the goals of the organization were, and how I could apply my skills to helping achieve those goals. My first thought was what kind of responsibilities do I now have towards the Association.

My second thought was “respect” and what I meant by that was that from now on, having accepted rank in the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association, I would have to treat other people with a full measure of respect because I was not only representing myself but also the Association. It was not that as a Black Belt I should be given respect; it was the opposite, now that I am a Black Belt I have to be much more careful in giving respect to others because my behavior, for good or ill, will be a reflection on the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association.

The character building aspects of martial arts are often overlooked in modern times but for me, a Black Belt at 50, responsibility and respect are still central to what it means to be a Black Belt.