Different Paths

Everyone has their own path in life, which only they can tread, and it is up to their own choosing, though sometimes they are thrust upon it. What is my path? My path is many things, one being the way of the sword, another being the Japanese language, and video games, and reading manga, etc. I personally do not like sports. Is there a problem with this? Well, let me explain something about me first. I am about 6 feet and one inch tall, estimated, and I've got pretty broad shoulders, and overall a strong build. Since I was a little kid, I was among the tallest in my classes. Even when I skipped up to 9th grade, I was still one of the tallest (though not THE tallest). For as long as I can remember, my mother has constantly told me to play basketball. I could play football, but my parents never liked that sport because it was so dangerous, but I could always play if I really wanted to. But I never liked the sport either, because, like them, it was dangerous.

So, I was forced into basketball one year. It was okay, it was something to do. Then my mother forced me into it AGAIN, and like the first time, it was something to do. I tried soccer for a season, then baseball, and tennis. I had a strong hit in baseball, and in tennis, but soccer had too much running, and both were out in the hot sun, which I didn't like. So, basketball was indoors, I was "made for it" and so on and so forth.

Well, we move here, and I take karate, and I see something interesting: kendo. They practiced during the same time on wed. as the late karate class would, so I saw them spar each other and do kata. It was so COOL. One day I decide to take a trial class, and it was amazing. After finding a good break in school two months later, I started. On my first day I got my shinai, bokken, and uniform. I always liked the kata, and the fighting was "fun", despite the HUGE workout and stress you got.

So, after practice, I'm leaving, when I see mom talking to some guy, around 28 or so, and he used to come here for kendo practice, and he was talking to her about it. that night I found out where my strong hit from baseball and tennis could come in: the strike to the head. He told me that I had a very strong one (despite me pulling it too far behind my head), and with more practice I could perform all of my strikes like that. Well, they tell that to everyone, right? But I knew that was true, and at that moment, I realized what I really wanted to do.

Of course, when my kendo exercises left me so drained, I wasn't able to do basketball on the same day, I'd just pass out. But that didn't sit too well with mom. She wanted me to do basketball because I was "built for it" blah blah blah. But that didn't matter, I REALLY WANTED TO DO KENDO, but she never got that I guess, it was always an argument with my mom. I was 14, I just wanted to practice kendo, but whenever I went outside, it was always "practice those layups" instead of "do some suburi" which was what I wanted to do (I was never good at those, and they are still somewhat troublesome). Then that sparked my interest in Japanese things, even the language, and now I'm learning Japanese (and to my surprise, I know more of it than I thought I did). Sure, I'll never be Japanese. I'll be in a crowd in Japan, and I'll be the tallest, so what? *walks up to an old Japanese man who proceeds to throw me across the street with his mad ninjutsu skills*. I don't care.

I'll just do whatever I feel pulled to do, it's my path, and nomatter how hard one tries, I'll never actually like basketball, or sports in general. And yes, kendo is looked at as a sport, but I for one do NOT look at it as a sport, but to better myself. And there are others like me who look at it like that also. I don't hate people who DO like sports, that's also their path. (I just hate the people who think they're better because of it *throws them across a football field with my mad jujutsu skills*) Everyone can follow their own path, but ultimately it's up to them to decide which path to follow.