Amateur Fighters
PrevNode Link[ Fade to black. Cut. Fade in. ]
SGlau: In The Three Musketeers, Dumas tells the story of how d’Artagnan who is a young swordsman without much of an official training, from a remote region of France, eventually becomes the best fighter in France. This is despite the fact that his peers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, have much more experience and training.
SGlau: It may seem farfetched, but before the industrialisation of the Far East, and the way the West interpreted martial arts, with the coloured belts and all, there were regional masters of these arts, who practised them as much as they could and honed their skills. However, despite all that, they never ruled out that they would one day fight against someone who never faught before, and lose.
SGlau: I can attest to it from my experience. I have been training in martial arts for years, and part of what I do is instruct kids in the martial arts. A lot of them seem happy to get a chance to fight against someone famous like me, and doing that in Southern California like that is good for the ego. And: it’s also good publicity. [The Audience laughs.]
SGlau: Now, most kids just want to learn the moves and fight in the proper way, but there’s a minority of disobedient kids: they disrespect the rules, improvise moves, and they are strong and agile.
SGlau: And as surprising as it sounds, I have so far lost three rounds to such kids, all of them boys, despite my years of training and experience. I have yet to find a girl (probably a tomboy) who will achieve that, but I’m still hopeful that it will happen one day, heh. [Claps from the audience]
[ The door opens. Voice from back of the camera - General Keith B. Alexander . ]
General Alexander’s Voice: Hey, what’s going on here? Get back to work! And who might you be?
[ Cut. ]