39E. Circle of THEM

Circle of THEM;

Beyond our circle of concern is the circle of THEM. Mr. Kim often talks of THEM. You would be wise not to blame anything on THEM at least while in the earshot of Mr. Kim. He will prove to you that THEM is your problem, not THEIRS.

Who we don’t know in any way is THEM. THEY seem to do everything that goes wrong in the lives of the negats. But when you ask the negat who are THEY the negats respond something like, “you know, THEM…The bad guys…the evil ones…the IRS….the government…the military…the doctors…the insurance companies…the etc…”

But, THEY don’t really exist, although they (in small letters) may exist. And we really don’t have any relationship with THEM. THEY are the no-names, the constructs of blame and disgrace. WE made THEM. THEY don’t exist.

And that is the problem; they don’t exist. They, like the blocks of ice in the Ort Cloud between solar systems must have a force applied to them (from us in this case) that will allow them to become real (to us). They then enter the circle of concern, and cease to be nameless objects in nothingness.

As Sensei Kim so often repeats, “There are no bad people, only people we really don’t know, or because of our own needs, don’t want to get to know.” Most people have some type of mother. Most mother’s love their children, even those who we call THEM. If their mother loves them (in small letters), and love is good, who are these them we call THEM?

The famous Will Rogers said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” Will Rogers was a posat that I can only admire. If we want to escape THEM we must put ourselves into them and pull THEM into our circle of concern. THEM is the IRS; but meet a person from the IRS at a hike in the Colorado Rockies and the person is not a part of THEM; they are real and cause for human concern. THEM disappears, at least for this person, in him or her.

Do you have concern for the criminals in our jails or just anger that THEY use up taxes? Do you have concern for the homeless mother of three on welfare or just disgust that THEY could be so lazy? Do you have concern for women who are sexually harassed at the workplace or just contempt that THEY may be exaggerating?

The Ort Cloud is too big for all of THEM to become comets.

But that is not the problem of the Ort Cloud.

The circle of THEM is the circle beyond which we desire any degree of concern. Martial artists want to have concern for all humans (perhaps all life). All human life is valuable and a creation of God (in my opinion). All human life is included, even those who have heinous pasts. All humans are deserving of concern to some degree or other. It is our choice….remember, the circle of responsibility? You lie within your own circle of responsibility forever. You choose your degree of concern. You choose what constitutes the Ort Cloud of THEM hidden in the vastness of unknown and unconcerned space.

I have trained people in martial arts who have spent time in maximum-security prisons. I have trained previous drug-dealers, ex-con murderers, (I hope ex-) child abusers, ex-knife-fighters and etc. They are not THEM. They are real people, much like you and I. They have feelings, needs, wants and fears. So often we consider them THEM as opposed to US. But in the final analysis WE are very much like THEM, so much like THEM that I shudder. For those of you who doubt me I suggest that you read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. And if you don’t believe in fiction then read the Texas or Mexican newspapers on the heinous deeds performed by American soldiers during the Spanish American War of 1848. The atrocities performed by US can only be shuddered at…..

So, what is the meaning of all of this? That brings up the last of this essays points; interdigitation.