Simply Kung Fu

I somewhat resent the fact that I didn’t grow up 100 years ago.  On the back of a buckskin, colt 45 slung to my side.  There is something about the simplicity of the old west.  If you liked it, you drank it, if you loved it, you married it, if you hated it, you shot it. If your horse threw a shoe, you rode to the next little settlement and hired a blacksmith.  Ahhh, there is something you don’t hear much anymore.  A true craftsman, taking hard parts of the earth and skillfully molding them to good use.

I have a friend that is a shop teacher.  He can talk for a solid hour on the qualities of a single species of wood.  The smell, the texture, durability, workability.  Today I headed to a wood store for a very small project I have decided to complete.  I fell neck deep in understanding regarding the fascination about something so simple.  There is something very grass roots about shopping for just the right piece of wood in a specialty shop.

 

Simplicity is another attractive part of Kung fu.  Crafted a thousand years ago.  Simple, yet complicated.  Raw, yet graceful.  Fluid yet powerful.    You take it everywhere, yet carry nothing.  What a fantastic art.