Stephen's Secure Blog #184
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students, in the 1950's. This was from a time before computers
would fit on a desk, and when people communicated with friends in other
countries by actual letters sent through the postal service. He wrote
225 of them to a friend. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he
still wanted to record his life, in case he lost his memory again, and
wrote 30 entries in his first logbook. Then he wrote to an artificial
intelligence called Geenee, in the master computer in his school for
gifted students, which he started attending in 2016. Now it's after
2018, and he's continuing to save his memories in a secure blog.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 16 in this story, in the Summer after year 6 of his special
school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #184 "Thai Swords"
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After great squirting in the morning, and cleaning up, Srinoy and I
went outside to work out. After a little while, there were a lot of
kids watching us through the fence. Then, two adults came to watch. We
made it more interesting than usual, for them. They were amazed we
could hit each other that hard and not feel it. His mother came out to
call us in for breakfast, and I asked for a minute. We went over to the
audience to greet them. I said to the children in Thai, "Please don't
try to do what we were doing. We can hit each other the way we do it,
because we have had a lot of training and practice." A man asked us,
"Are you professional fighters?" Srinoy said, "No, sir, we are not. We
practice for health and discipline. We do not fight, or hurt others in
any way." I said "Please excuse us. We should go in to eat. You know
how mothers can be for those who are late for a meal." He laughed. We
bowed, and went inside.
After breakfast, we walked to the Temple. On the way, some birds came
to me and perched my shoulders. I said to Srinoy, "Have you ever ridden
an animal from the inside?" He said "I heard about it, but never did
it." I could see his parents had questions, so I said, "It's a
technique were we push our mind into the brain of an animal, and
experience life through its body and senses. It's a really different
world, and a great educational experience. In a more advanced version
of it, we can take complete control of the animal, or share control
with it, and fly or swim as they do. We live it with them, as them.
It's more than experiencing different kinds of existence. We learn
respect for them and how they need to live. And love them.
Unfortunately, we don't have many opportunities for that at the school.
Zoo animals are not good for this. Or for much else, actually." His
parents said "Wow!"
His father said, "Will you teach Srinoy this?" I said "He already has
the ability." I said to Srinoy, "It's like the inventory, but with a
harder push, and outward exploration. I recommend trying it with a dog,
first. They like company. And there is less probability they will die
during your contact. If an animal dies when you are riding it, it can
be quite a mental shock. You won't be seriously damaged, but you sure
won't want that to happen again." His father said, "Does it hurt the
animal to have this contact?" I said "In passive mode, most animals
probably won't even know you are there. If you are controlling it, you
can hurt it just like you would yourself, if you bang into something.
Or, if you make the animal do something which allows a predator to take
it. Yes, there are responsibilities in everything. Learning that, is
good, too." He nodded, thoughtfully. I said, "But with all that,
soaring through the sky as an eagle, is something few would want to
miss. Or being with a dolphin. That's one strange experience! They know
you are with them, but they think they are dreaming you. There is much
more to experience in the world, than people know." They agreed.
Panchang was waiting for us at the entrance to the Temple. I said to
him, "Have you been waiting long?" He said "Somewhere between an
instant and an eternity, I was. But where in that, I don't know. I just
was." I bowed to him, and then said to Srinoy, "What do you think of
that?" He said "Wow!" I said "Not very descriptive." He tried to be
serious, and said, "It has a lot of meaning. Deep. I like it." I said
"Not just an attitude, but a way of existing." Srinoy said to me in
surprise, "You wanted him to say that!" I said "That's too strong a
statement. I said what I did, to draw an interesting response, and he
chose one, purposely, but still true, for you, and us." He said "Wow!"
I said "He and I both knew that question is often used as a test. For
such as he, there is no wait. There just, is." He couldn't even say
wow. Then he said, "I'm not joking about it anymore. You are a TRUE
Buddhist, while it is we who are not." I just sighed. Panchang hugged
the surprised Srinoy, and said, "Good luck trying to convince him of
that. The hardest head in the universe. But I admire you for trying."
They hugged some more, with love. His parents didn't know what to make
of all that, but didn't say anything.
While we were walking into the Temple, I said to Panchang, "Do you
have any comments to make about anything we discussed yesterday, or
have been discussed about us with you?" He said "Yes." There was
silence. I ignored it. Srinoy tried not to grin. I winked at him, and
he almost choked, which made me work to not laugh about. A minute
layer, his father was the first one to break, and said, "I can't take
this! Master Panchang, please tell us your comments!" I shook my head
in dejection, and Srinoy burst out laughing. We looked at his father,
who said, "I see. I interfered with a lesson." I said "It might have
been a lesson. Who it might have been for, could have been the one who
responded." He said "ME?" I said "If Srinoy had responded, it could
have been for him. Or me. Or the wind, if it could speak. Lessons are
for those who learn from them. That is their purpose. We can all learn
from everything and anything, including silence, but the most important
lessons are often those which show us ourselves." He said '"Oh. Oh!
Panchang. He said softly, "I know what's happening now." I nodded, but
didn't say anything. That clued him into not saying more about it. He
saw that Panchang and I approved of that.
Panchang said, "The sword fighters are ready to demonstrate their
skills for you." I said "Great! Srinoy, I hope you pay close attention.
Want to guess why?" He was excited, and said, "I don't have to guess!
You want to do it, and need somebody of my level or higher to practice
with. Something I really want to do!" I said "Correct. Do you think
Panchang expected that of me?" He said "He's smart, so he would be sure
of it." They smiled to each other. We went to an inner courtyard. There
were chairs we could use. Srinoy was too excited to sit, so I stood
with him, hugging. Six sword fighters came out and practiced moves in
unison, warming up. They each had two swords. The blades were slightly
curved like a katana, but broader near the pointed end, and a third
shorter. The handles were just as long, able to be used in a two handed
grip. They were used a lot like the stick fighting of The Philippines.
Really wild looking constant swinging, but under careful control. Then
a pair of fighters went at each other with sticks which looked like the
swords. There was a whole lot of sticks banging on sticks, but some
kicks and acrobatics mixed in with it. Even some locks, like arm bars,
and some tumbling. Then another pair displayed single sword fighting,
at times using a double handed grip. Then one sword against an opponent
with two swords. Then one against two opponents. Then three opponents.
Then two fighters came out and used real swords in a real fight. It
ended when one was cut. I walked out to see him, and bowed, and said,
"Will you allow me to heal that for you?" He was so much in awe of me,
he almost couldn't speak, but he said, "Please, Master." I took his
arm, and closed the cut with 4th fingers, and pushed healing energy at
it, and in 30 seconds it was all healed, and without a scar. I
whispered to him, "If you had wanted a warrior's scar to show your
bravery, I'm sorry. That's not how my healing works." He just grinned
and bowed. I returned both.
I went back to the spectators, and said to Panchang, "May Srinoy and
I practice with the wooden swords, and then the real ones?" He said
"Yes, please. Would it be alright if people were watching?" I looked
around critically, and said, "Yes, because there isn't enough room for
elephants." He burst out laughing, a little ahead of Srinoy. I grinned
and said to the Monk, "Gotcha!" When he could, he said, "That you did."
We hugged. Srinoy and I took our shoes and outer clothes off. We had
our fighting shorts on. We went to the middle of the space. I said "Can
you protect yourself with Ki, from sword cuts?" He said "Cuts,
probably. Thrusts, probably not." I sent him settings for his personal
shield. He nodded. I touched him with a wood sword, and that spot
glowed red. The same thing happened to me, when he did that. I said to
the spectators, "We will not be injured by strikes with wood or blade,
or we could not do this to each other. But, we wanted to see them, so
where we touch of the other with a weapon, will glow red, until we end
the match." There were some wows. I said "We are used to stick and
sword fighting, so this isn't entirely new to us, so please don't think
we are learning such an advanced art too fast to be possible for
beginners, because we are not." There were some nods.
We stood side by side, facing the audience, and did some two sword
practice moves, exactly as we had seen them do. We were in contact, so
we could decide on the same things, so our moves were synchronized.
Then we faced each other, and did practice moves, with stick contact,
slowly at first. Then we went faster, and then faster and faster, until
we were moving so fast they couldn't really see what we were doing.
Then there was a loud crack, and one of my wooden swords broke against
his, and the loose end went over his shoulder and flew into a wall, and
shattered on impact. We stopped. I said "Oops!" Some shocked laughter.
I said to the audience, "Er, it broke a little." More and louder
laughter. Another one was brought to me. I said "Now we do a real
fighting exercise." That we did, with kicks and all. And we did hit
each other, too. We stopped, with red marks all over us.
Srinoy said, "That was FUN!" I said "I agree. Want to try real
swords?" Srinoy said to the audience, "That's what his friends call one
of his stupid questions. He KNOWS I want to do that." I poked him. He
said "Careful! I've got a weapon. Oh, so do you. I take that back.
Please." We all laughed. Some real swords were brought to us. We
fought. It was wild, and there were a lot of sparks flying from blade
contacting blade at high speed. When we stopped, I had one red mark on
me, and Srinoy had two. I said to the audience, "While I couldn't see
us as you did, and so can't compare what we did with what the really
excellent fighters of the Temple did, I think we have learned the
basics. So, we would welcome more instruction from the experts." Their
sword fighting instructor said, "Your skills are beyond us. We have
nothing to teach you." I said "Oh, I'm sorry!" He said "Please don't
be. Not even for seriously damaging the swords. It was a rare privilege
to witness such superb skill and artistry." We bowed, and he bowed in
return.
I looked at the swords. They really were ruined. The blades were all
eaten up by a whole lot of deep nicks. I felt really bad about that,
and said, "I'm very sorry about that. I'll fix it." I said to Srinoy in
contact what to do. Then I threw my swords up high into the air. Then
Srinoy threw his swords to me, and I threw them up, too. Then I caught
my swords on the way down and tossed them to him, and then I caught
his. Then we handed the swords to the fighting instructor, looking
brand new. His eyes almost popped out of his head. He thanked us, and
we bowed, not completely hiding our grins. I said to Panchang, "While
we are dressed, rather undressed, like this, would you like some
demonstrations of other martial arts?" He looked really interested, and
so did the fighting instructor. He said "What can you do?" I said "Er,
most everything. Only martial skill, and not mental abilities, of
course. Although we could demonstrate the use of Chi some other time.
It wouldn't be wise to show too much in one day." He said "Weapons?" I
said "We can use almost anything as a weapon. We train specifically for
that. Does anybody have a coin they can spare?" Srinoy's father gave me
one. I held my fist out to Srinoy, and he knew what to do. I counted to
three, and I had a closed fist, symbolizing a rock, and his hand was
flat, symbolizing paper, which covered my rock. He won, and was happy
about that. I tossed the coin to him, and he took it out of the air,
and continued the motion into a tight spin, and then there was a loud
crack. The coin was stuck halfway into a wooden post, on the other side
of the courtyard. They all went to look at it. I said to him, "Well
done! I didn't expect you to continue the motion of the catch. I liked
that a lot!" We hugged and kissed. I said "Chad was the first of us to
do that on a mission. He was 13. We should show him what you did."
The audience came back to us, and I said, "We don't like real
violence. Suppose we demonstrate Aikido?" The fighting instructor knew
what that was, and said, "With our people, and teaching the basics?" I
said "That was the expected answer." We grinned and bowed to each
other. We put our clothes back on, so our opponents would have
something to grab. After a while, students came out to join us,
children and young adults, dressed for fighting practice. I announced,
"We will be demonstrating the art of Aikido. Basically, it is the
fighting art that is not fighting. It allows your opponent to defeat
himself. There are no strikes in the art. No attacks, actually. To
attack is to defeat yourself and who you are. What is done, is to
direct the movement and internal energy of the attacker against
himself, using the mechanics of the body, and gravity, and sometimes
our inner force, in such a way that the outcome is you are still you,
while the opponent isn't who he wanted to be. The stronger the attack,
the easier it is to defend against, because that is the energy we use.
A word of caution. To practice this art, requires an attacker, and a
defender. Usually, they trade positions. That means somebody,
everybody, is going to fall down. A LOT. Knowing how to do that without
being harmed, is very important. We will demonstrate." Srinoy and I
did. I said "Notice how he was relaxed and rolled. That is important.
With practice, one can even do that on stairs without being seriously
injured. Oh, and please don't try that until after we have left, so we
don't get blamed for that." Some laughter.
We demonstrated some simple defenses against kicks, punches, and
grabs, and showed some simple arm and wrist locks. Then we accepted
their attacks. Srinoy took the smaller kids, and I took the bigger
ones. We did the techniques, and then had them do them with their own
people. After a little more than an hour, we stopped. I said "That's
enough for today. Too many new things at once can be confusing. You can
do those techniques again among yourselves, tomorrow. Repetition is
good practice. Repetition is good practice. Repetition is good
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Grant
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