To my absolute astonishment and joy, I’ve been receiving emails asking me where I’ve been and when I’m going to write my next story.
I decided that I needed some competition in my life, so I’ve been focusing on training in Thai Boxing and Jiu Jitsu and it has inadvertently taken the place of writing for me. I’ve already competed in a Jiu Jitsu tournament and I have a Muay Thai fight this weekend.
I’m sure some stories will come out of my experiences over the past few months, but for now, I’ve decided to re-post the story I wrote about getting into martial arts in the first place. Please keep the comments and emails coming!
When I was in grade school, the town bully took my very favorite hat right off my head. It was raining. He taunted me and pushed me around. He said all I had to do was punch him and he’d give me my hat back.
At 12 years old, I already had a strong conviction and I did not want to resort to violence. I wouldn’t punch him. I refused. I let him trip me and throw me into a puddle. I let him call me names. Tell me that I’d never get through life being as weak as I was. He told me he was doing me a favor: toughening me up. It took everything I had not to burst into tears. I just stood there and refused to retaliate. We were there, him taunting me, for what seemed like hours.
When he finally let me go (he kept…
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James is Trying 