Almost A Black Belt

I was informed recently, that in July, I will be testing for my Black Belt in Filipino Kali at Impact Martial Arts Academy where I train under Guro Ervin Quintin. If anyone had told me when I was a kid that I could be a black belt I would have probably have told you I was already a black belt in some made up martial art that I invented in a weekend by kicking a tire, because I was kind of a weird kid.

In my thirties, however, I was a mess with anxiety and depression and in need of distraction and I found it in martial arts. I began with the same wacky misconceptions about the Black Belt that a lot of non-practitioners have: that it denotes a level of mastery and instantly imbues the wearer with magical qualities of badassery. Maybe not all Black Belts are Ninjas, but all Ninjas are definitely black belts, and that means something, right? A black belt was something some people from certain walks of life could obtain, but not just anyone, certainly not everyone, and never me.

But it’s not this crazy thing only some people can earn. It’s not even something that matters to most people. The art I train doesn’t even have a traditional history of belt systems. It’s just something our school implements to track progress. If we think rationally about it, a black belt doesn’t serve any purpose whatsoever. You can’t eat a black belt if you get hungry. You can’t deposit your black belt into the bank if you need to pay the rent. It doesn’t even cover your body if you’re cold. Your black belt cannot babysit your children and you look ridiculous wearing it at the club. Effectively, a black belt is useless.

So why do I keep training? Why do I still want a black belt?

Truth is, I’d show up to class every week even if we observed no ranking system at all. I love my training partners, I love my school, I love what I learn and I think all of it is important. I take all of them seriously. The rank isn’t actually meaningful to me at all, but what the Black Belt stands for means the world to me. A black belt is the physical manifestation of the wearer’s word and everything he had to do to keep his word. A white belt is a brave man making a promise he’s not sure he can keep and a black belt is how he follows through on it.

My black belt will be a symbol of trust in my training, my teachers and my tribe.