"He Lost an Arm but Gained His Life..."

Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the Martial Arts Supershow in Las Vegas, a martial arts industry conference held by the Martial Arts Industry Association. Every year they have a motivational speaker to come and energize the crowd before two straight days of seminars, workshops, and workouts led by some of the biggest names in the martial arts, including UFC fighters, personal coaches, and school owners from around the country (and the world).

This year’s motivational speaker was Aron Ralston. If you don’t know who that is, Aron is the American mountain climber who became trapped for over five days when his arm was pinned under an 800-pound boulder during a solo canyoneering trip in 2003. The result of many of what Ralston admitted were poor choices (deciding to go solo canyoneering without telling anyone where he would be, for instance), his captivity was an opportunity to reflect on the things that were important to him, of which he realized family was the most important (and perhaps least appreciated, prior to the accident) thing to him in his life. Listening to Aron talk, it was easy to be drawn into his situation and his thought process.

I can’t imagine being trapped in the wilderness for five days straight without any food and with the knowledge that no one would know where I had gone. I also can’t imagine coming to the realization that the only way to survive would be to self-amputate my arm--if you want more grisly details, you can read the wikipedia article about him. What I could understand was the value he placed on his human relationships. As a Karate teacher, it’s important to instill the same reverence that Ralston felt for his relationships in each and every student so that there’s an appreciation for and a strong feeling of family and connection.