The Man They Call The Jaguar
My neighbour is a taekwondo junkie; okay, maybe junkie is too strong a word for this athletic jaguar of a man whose reflexes have the literal ability to ‘move’ the air you breathe. He dances around you like a serpentine dancer ethereally spinning on an axis forever. His footwork modelling the magical footprints of Israel Adesanya. Six months ago, Joáo took up the ‘blood sport’ (his 12-year-old son’s term for Korean martial arts) for fitness, but his real intention was to, ironically, motivate his son ‘Archie’ (short for Archimedes) to do better. Both father and son drive off together for their evening class at our local community centre. Sometimes, they even offer to drive my daughter Evie. Evie tells me that admiration for Joáo has earned him a mini fan club at the martial arts class mostly made up of young aspirants wanting to kick, or in Evie’s exact words ‘kick-ass’ (as she averts her eyes under my disapproving stare) like Joáo who they now call the Jaguar.
Friday evening, the car door slams. Kids jump out screaming and delightfully laughing. Evie comes running, bright-eyed and rosy cheeks, grinning from ear to ear.
“Mum! Jaguar just beat Tennessee in sparring, Mum!”
“Did he?” I giggled cautiously, seeing Joáo from the corner of my eye, who was lugging his massive gym bag out of the trunk of the car.
He looked up, smiled, and waved. My heart skipped a beat. Joáo saunters over to me, gym bag now casually strung over his robust shoulders, “He came at me fists and all, but I gave him something to think about with my palm strike!” He demonstrated this masterful knife-hand stroke inches from my eyelashes which were, by this time, peeled to their ceilings with nowhere to go. The unhurrying atmosphere around my eyes tingled like static. The magnetism from Joáo sent electric currents down my spine. Whatever that was, I thought to myself, I had to remove the electrified and dried-up lens from my eye.
I laughed off the discomforting tension and congratulated him on his recent attainment of the blue belt. Joáo had been so proud of achieving it at 53 years of age that he paraded his blue belt whenever he could, even as he was taking out the trash bin.
Tennessee was a black belt champion and the father of two red belt twins who also practise martial arts alongside their father. I heard there had been some awkward skirmishes in class and Joáo had emerged on the side of victory and caution. Joáo always had time to contextualise the practices to calibrate to the developmental mindsets of the children. Anyone could see that the Jaguar couldn’t hurt a fly even if he tried. But, there were people who tried to hurt him. I think it is largely because they are jealous of the vigorous and vital energy that he brings to the club.
Part of Joáo’s popularity is attributable to his newly acquired underdog status against the heavyweight black belt know-it-alls. There may be a few knocks and bruises, maybe even fractured limbs. All in the name of sport. Still, all were performed under supervision in a safe and controlled environment. Parents, do not worry! I am less assured when Joáo is not there. He has become an icon of safety for me, but I cannot say the same for the other observing parents wearing worried looks. They are the ones who keep an eagle eye on every move he makes. Although Joáo tried to end each practice session on a positive note with a story, there were days when I could see fatigue swimming under his eyes.
The truth is, Joáo's dynamism was encouraging and attracting other parents to join and learn with their kids. Six months after his first day, the club grew in attendance. His generosity in sharing his knowledge, his open-hearted approach towards learning a new skill, and his bravery in incorporating new challenges in life should be a lesson to us all not to fear the unknown, and to live in a constant state of growth. Growth requires change and self-transformation including facing our deepest fears. One of the reasons why Joáo grew into a role model is simply his positive growth mindset to learn and overcome obstacles, regardless of his age.
I admire Joáo. Evie told me that once when she was penalised and relegated to do press-ups she could not finish, Joáo sat alongside her and did them with her until she completed them to the coach’s satisfaction. He was always helping the children tie their belts, and giving them high-fives. Evie has several stories she loves to tell about her recent idol.
Joáo reminds me of one such group of heartwarming people who inspire and spark positivity in the community here in Australia — the Sikh community. They stepped up in the bush fires’ catastrophe and are now responding to the recent Lismore floods in New South Wales, Australia, delivering food relief and crisis support. We need to be more self-aware of our point of view in relation to others and focus on how we can offer healthy vibes and positive healing instead of unintentionally and unconsciously feeding ferocious leviathans within. Climate change is one of, if not, the biggest threat facing humanity today, along with the insanity of war; nuclear escalation, an unhealthy obsession with oil, the decadence of colonisation, capitalism, exploitation, and militarisation — can’t we all see — that are tearing our world apart.
Piece by piece. We are all hurting.
We find external agents of change everywhere, and to be sure, a positive force for the good of humanity requires courage, conviction, faith, and love. Languages from the heart speak louder than passive inactivity in the face of injustice when needs are called out for what they are. Evie came home with a story one day about a bully who had pinned her fingers to the ground. As she was yelping in pain, the man they call the Jaguar came up from behind and ‘rescued’ her by placing his body on the line, thus shielding Evie from the next roundhouse before dismantling the bully in gentler, more soothing tones.
Distilled folk wisdom would say, just as a house divided cannot stand, when there is no enemy within, the enemy outside cannot hurt you.
