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pboylan
27th August 2013, 18:56
I was thinking about the question of trust in the dojo, and how much I trust my training partners. I wrote this blog post about it. Please let me know what you think here.

http://budobum.blogspot.com/2013/08/trust-in-dojo.html

pgsmith
27th August 2013, 20:46
Thanks for that Peter, I thought it was great! I have a great many good friends in the martial arts world that I only see on occasion. My wife (who doesn't practice martial arts) asked me a number of years back how I managed to make enduring friendships over the course of just a few days. I am going to direct her to your blog and remind her of that question.

Guy Buyens
28th August 2013, 09:16
Please let me know what you think here.

Peter,

I ebjoyed your blog very much.

I am also thinking on how all these years in a dojo can help me in work and I have to admit that what you write is so true:

“After working with a person for just a few minutes you will know more about their personality than you would in days of working with them outside the dojo. There are so many opportunities for someone of ill will to take advantage of during budo training that in under 15 minutes I can tell if someone should be avoided.”

Nevertheless I have trusted people within a budo context but still came out disappointed in another context, also I know of so many anecdotes where great budo masters were fooled outside the dojo by old students or other people in the budo world. Trusting someone within one context is unfortunately not a guarantee that he or she is to be trusted in all situations.

Also your remark on a dojo visit is true:

“What is wonderful about going to a new dojo to visit is that the vast majority of people are very good, and they show it clearly when we train. After an evening of training with a group of people at a new dojo, I have a new group of trusted friends, because we have shared ourselves with each other, and shown that we care about each other’s well being.”

But only because we now visit only dojo’s where we already trust the one in charge, which brings me to

“I trust the people I train with so much because it is so easy to spot the rotten apples and avoid them. Better yet, the best dojos I’ve been in simply don’t tolerate their behavior. They either shape up and play nice, or they are encouraged to leave.”

This is also important for us, but may-be this is easy because in our dojo, we don’t make a living out of teaching and only charge people to cover the dojo expenses.

For those who didn’t read the blog, these are just some personal reflections. I would encourage others to read the blog first before reacting.