What You Do Today ...

The following article was adapted from a post that originally appeared on our Studio Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/barnesmartialarts) 

Talk is cheap.

We all say we care about the state of the world, that something should be done about what is going on in our neighborhoods, but until we take action -- any action, no matter how small or how grand -- until we actually do something nothing will change.

Words are powerful; they reach into our hearts and inspire, but they alone have never changed a thing; action does. Action, combined with the inspiration of powerful words and ideas, is an unstoppable force.

We cannot wait for the white knight to ride in on his steed, or the hero to swoop in and save us.

At the risk of sounding grandiose, we are the white knight; we are the hero.
Barnes Martial Arts is committed to taking action to improve our community and our world ...

Sometimes the gesture is personal, like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that we organized in 2014 in memory of my fiance's father, Ray Williams.

Sometimes the expression is farther reaching and deals with a Universal topic -- such as the current Cards and Letters for Blake Kitchen campaign through which we are attempting to shed more light on the issue of bullying.

Other times, as with the Holiday Clothing and Toy Drives, collecting food for the Al Beech/West Side Food Pantry, or even cleaning up Murray Street, our efforts are focused closer to home.

No positive action is too small.
All positive action is beneficial.

The point is that as Martial Artists we have a greater responsibility to each other. Compassion is one of the fundamental capacities of what it means to be not only a true Black Belt, but a meaningful, contributing member of one's community, and the world at large. More than that, for Martial Artists it represents balance and harmony. It is not enough for us to learn how to damage people without also learning how to reach out and help them. Too often, Martial Arts studios -- even here in Northeastern Pennsylvania -- focus on the closed fist rather than the open hand.

This is why it is so important to our identity as a Studio that our students all become engaged in our ongoing efforts to spread Kindness, to lead by example that Martial Artists are more than just fighters, and to truly take these lessons Out of the Dojo, Into the World.

It is incumbent upon all of us to leave our world in a better state than we found it.

Thank you all for your continuing efforts to help us redefine the role of what it means to be a Martial Arts school in our contemporary world, to set the bar higher than it has ever been set, especially here in Northeast PA.

By aligning with our wider, deeper Vision, we truly can -- and most certainly will -- accomplish great things.