| y"> | | | | they're in charge of their bodies, they take |
| When my Dad used to say, wistfully, "Youth is | | | | responsibility for them, and they don't yield to silly |
| wasted on the young," I thought it was so much | | | | ideas that say we should naturally lose our |
| doubletalk. | | | | physical capabilities as time marches on. |
| The adage presupposes that youth only comes | | | | If, at an advanced age, you study combative |
| along once in a lifetime, and while this is the | | | | forms such as karate, and you spar with |
| widespread perception, it's wrong. | | | | opponents of various ages, you'd be amazed at |
| You can be, and I daresay you should be young | | | | how well you'll do, providing you've paid the price |
| at every age, and it's possible if you train diligently | | | | to condition your mind and body. |
| in the martial arts. | | | | Your body doesn't know how old it is. |
| If you need any proof of this proposition just | | | | If, as a 45 year-old, you tell it to perform as if it |
| take a look at oldsters in the People's Republic of | | | | were 18, it will do it, providing you have prepared |
| China, the millions who do Tai Chi every morning | | | | it properly. |
| in parks and public spaces. | | | | More than toughness, self-confidence, or fighting |
| They're agile, flexible, and graceful, and a typical | | | | skill, the true gift of intensive, ongoing martial arts |
| 80 year-old practitioner there has more vitality | | | | training is YOUTH. |
| and than the average, 35 year-old American | | | | In this sense, Dad may have been more correct |
| office rat. | | | | to say martial arts training is wasted on the |
| But most important, these people believe that | | | | young! |