Remembering Memorial Day

I found this really beautiful video from Humanity Healing, that helps us remember the significance of what Memorial Day is all about. I have several military families that train with me, and several members that have been deployed over the past three years. Thankfully, no one I know personally has been wounded or killed.

However, we are engaged in two wars and the reality is we have men and women who continue to be in harms way.

Let's say a prayer for the fallen, and those still serving on the front lines!

Thank you to all who serve and those that gave their lives to protect our freedom!

Happy Memorial Day!

Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
803-462-9425
samuraikarate@bellsouth.net

National Missing Child's Day

What do you and every parent want most? 

All of us want our children to be safe. And when a child goes missing it is every parent’s WORST nightmare. The parents of a missing child live with persistent heartache and uncertainty over the fate of their missing child.  

May 25th, 2011 marks National Missing Children’s Day in the United States—a day to honor those dedicated to finding missing children and to the safety of all children. 

May 25th is a day of hope, yet every day in the United States thousands of children go missing.

What can YOU do?

Get involved in your local neighborhood watch programs and learn how to be more vigilant in your community.

Enroll your child in a stranger danger workshop to learn the basic fundamentals of stranger danger awareness.  At Samurai Karate Studio, we have integrated stranger danger into our curriculum and we practice it all the time.  I also cover this topic in FREE workshops nearly every quarter and in the local schools.


Donate to a wonderful children's program like The Polly Klaas Foundation!  This foundation was created by parents of a girl who was abducted and killed and is doing really great work in helping to find and protect missing children.

Most importantly, the greatest deterrent to your child being abducted, is if you, the parent or guardian, keep them next to you and/or within your site all the time.  No matter how much you teach your children about stranger danger, they're at their safest when an adult is always present and ready to protect.

Sometimes the best defense, is going on the offensive and being aggressive with your child's protection. So, don't let them out of your sight!

My heart goes out to those parents with a missing child and I will certainly say a prayer for their safe return.

And thanks to the work of The Polly Klaas Foundation and others like it, for making a difference!

If you would like more information about our stranger danger curriculum at Samurai Karate Studio, please feel free to contact me at 803-462-9425 or samuraikarate@bellsouth.net.

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

www.samuraikaratestudio.net

Living Hero Julia Butterfly Hill

I can vaguely remember the story of Julia Butterfly Hill when I was living in New England (1997-1999).  This young woman spent a little over two years living in a giant redwood tree in California, in protest of Pacific Lumber's clear cutting the forest in this area.  I remember thinking this is one "tough" girl, but never really thought much more about it, as the press coverage in New England was not that significant.

Fast forward a decade later and her story resurfaced again.  She has been referenced so many times by Coach Callos in The 100 and the UBBT.  After hearing her name so many times, I finally decided to learn more about her by reading her book,  The Legacy of Luna, which chronicles her life before Luna, the circumstances for climbing up into that tree, and why she stayed as long as she did.  (By the way, Luna is the name she picked to call this tree, in order to personalize "her" and give her more of a human nature.)

The book was absolutely amazing!

Julia is absolutely amazing!

Her book read like a suspense novel; from dealing with nature's harsh elements (cold and wind), to living with isolation, to doing battle with Pacific Lumber, who was determined to bring her down out of the tree, even if it included cutting the tree down with her in it!

You will be blown away with her passion, her courage, her perseverance, and her general toughness.  Despite everything Pacific Lumber threw her way, she managed to call attention to her cause in a dignified way.  She used kindness as a way of befriending some of the Pacific Lumber associates.  She used her intelligence and enthusiasm to capture the attention of the media.

It was only after securing the safety of Luna and the forest around her, that Julia finally came down from the tree.

According to Wikipedia, "Since her tree sit, Hill has become a motivational speaker (holding some 250 events a year), a best-selling author and the co-founder of the Circle of Life Foundation (which helped organize We The Planet, an eco-friendly music tour) and the Engage Network, a nonprofit that trains small groups of civic leaders to work toward social change." 

Among the many important principles she talks about, one of the most important: she asks all of us to discover "what's our tree" in life?  What do we feel most passionate about?  Is it fighting Diabetes, helping to end child abuse, helping to end bullying, promoting peace education?  As master teachers, we need to figure out what that passion is lead in a BIG, inspiring way!

That is being a master instructor!  Yes?

"I gave my word to this tree and to all the people that my feet would not touch the ground until I had done everything in my power to make the world aware of this problem and to stop the destruction." 
Julia Butterfly Hill



Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
803-462-9425      
samuraikarate@bellsouth.net