Karate, Heroism, and Virginia Tech Tragedy

There are those of us who first come to karate because we believe karate will make us invincible. We believe that learning karate will ensure our personal safety, always. We have this illusion destroyed in our first sparring match with a senior student. If we're not dejected by this and quit, we continue training. We get better. If we train hard enough, we develop to the point where we can beat the average person in a sparring match most of the time.

But life's not a sparring match. Real life can involve attacks from behind, being jumped by a gang, or even attacked by a well-prepared, seriously disturbed individual prepared to die and take as many people as he can with him. So what is the point of karate?

The point for Karate's founder, Gichin Funakoshi, is to "seek perfection of character." Perfection of character includes many things, and I'm certain it includes heroism. Reading the story of Liviu Librescu is as fine a case of heroism as any ever written.

A recent article at CNN.com celebrates the heros of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Liviu Librescu was a professor at Virginia Tech. He was also a holocaust survivor. When he heard shots in the hall, he didn't think of himself - he thought of his students. He barred the door to the hall. It allowed his students time to escape. In the process, two students were wounded, and Professor Librescu was killed.

Karate isn't victory. Perfection of character means doing what's right. It means standing up to danger and taking the needed steps, regardless of the cost. Ideally, we survive. If not, we lived doing the right thing.

Liviu Librescu, I am humbled.