this conversation reminds me of a story that I was told by a mate of mine, he in turn was told by his martial arts teacher.
I can't recall exactly what it is so here's an approximate retelling.
It's in ancient Japan and there is this wise old Mr Miyage type guy who is the local revered expert in martial arts. every decade or so he takes in only the brightest and best graduates from other martial arts teachers, they are the "chosen ones" so to speak who get the privilege of learning from his lifetime of mastering.
so one day one of his chosen students is walking through town and for some reason there is a horse in the town, (either there is some kind of stable, or black smith or something), and as the student is walking past that back of the horse, the horse is spooked, and immediately and without warning kicks out at the guys chest with lethal speed and force.
the student with all his training and skills as quick as a flash with cat like reflexes immediately ducks out of the way, with some astonishing matrix like moves avoids the horses kick returns to his upright position and keeps walking not phased at all by the experience.
Obviously the guy becomes the talk of the town, he's clearly the brightest and best student ever, eventually word of this astonishing reflex and ability gets back to the grand master, who immediately dismisses the guy as a failure.
nobody can understand this, the guy had inhuman like reflexes, how could he possibly be dismissed as a failure?
Some time later the old grand master is walking through the town, and seeing that he's walking down the same street as the student once did a couple of people slow down what they are doing and stop to see what will happen to the grand master in this situation.
He sees the blacksmiths stable and crosses the road.
The moral of the story of course is that you learn the skills and reflexes etc as your weapon of last resort and should go out of your way to avoid using them.
I can't recall exactly what it is so here's an approximate retelling.
It's in ancient Japan and there is this wise old Mr Miyage type guy who is the local revered expert in martial arts. every decade or so he takes in only the brightest and best graduates from other martial arts teachers, they are the "chosen ones" so to speak who get the privilege of learning from his lifetime of mastering.
so one day one of his chosen students is walking through town and for some reason there is a horse in the town, (either there is some kind of stable, or black smith or something), and as the student is walking past that back of the horse, the horse is spooked, and immediately and without warning kicks out at the guys chest with lethal speed and force.
the student with all his training and skills as quick as a flash with cat like reflexes immediately ducks out of the way, with some astonishing matrix like moves avoids the horses kick returns to his upright position and keeps walking not phased at all by the experience.
Obviously the guy becomes the talk of the town, he's clearly the brightest and best student ever, eventually word of this astonishing reflex and ability gets back to the grand master, who immediately dismisses the guy as a failure.
nobody can understand this, the guy had inhuman like reflexes, how could he possibly be dismissed as a failure?
Some time later the old grand master is walking through the town, and seeing that he's walking down the same street as the student once did a couple of people slow down what they are doing and stop to see what will happen to the grand master in this situation.
He sees the blacksmiths stable and crosses the road.
The moral of the story of course is that you learn the skills and reflexes etc as your weapon of last resort and should go out of your way to avoid using them.