The only Constant is Change

Many people fail to fully appreciate that the History of Man did not begin on the day of his or her birth. Billions of people have lived and died before you ever got here, trends come and go, Empires rise and fall, people love, hate, invent, forget, regret and inspire.

In Aiki training one of the most common attacks trained is the simple wrist-grab. Your partner reaches and grasps your wrist. One of the things newer students have a hard time grasping as they struggle to master the mechanics of the many defensive counters is that the mechanics are never the same twice, because the attack is never the same twice.

No matter how many times one reaches and grasps your wrist, each is unique. Faster or slower. Stronger or weaker. Higher on the arm or lower. Force directed downward, to the side, or any other direction. The size, weight, intent, speed and many other factors of every different training partner all combine to an infinite number of variables that make each wrist grab similar, though unique.

So, while your defensive reactions may be similar each time, you must be fluid and sensitive enough to recognize and then react accordingly to the nuance of this attack, with insight from previous similar attacks, yet without prejudice. When you defend yourself this time, you must be responding to this attack.

If you assume your attacker is going to grasp and then push down and right, and you react for that attack, yet he pushes down and left, you are fooked, and handcuffed...or worse.

This is where Jefferson and Franklin remind us of simple reality regarding the larger picture:

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave. ~ Jefferson

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty. ~ Jefferson

...a republic, if you can keep it. ~ Franklin

All in Nature is rhythmic and cyclical.

Ebb and flow. Expand and contract. These cycles are in all things.

Liberty as articulated by Jefferson, Rightful Liberty, was perhaps at a cyclical expansive point in the moments in and around the defeat of the British at Yorktown. Formalized Liberty peaked probably in the years during which the Constitution was ratified. Contraction of Rightful Liberty again began with Marbury v. Madison as men who mean to be Masters began to use the Judiciary to accrue power and impose their will.

Liberty continues to contract right now, at an accelerated pace.

It is in times of quick pace where the biggest changes can take place. Two cars impacting front bumpers at 5 miles per hour combined speed, no big deal, Life will probably go on for all involved with little change. The same cars hitting at 200 miles per hour combined speed, however...big changes.

I have said many times our Founders have already done this once, and drew a blueprint for us. Obviously there are differences today versus what was faced during RevWarI, but the overall nature of the challenge is the same, and many of the mechanics can be the same.

Many of us have decided to take responsibility for our own Liberty. That is as it must be, of course. Some of us have chosen to band together and build an Arms Company that will be an asset regardless of the details coming our way. Some of us have decided to build a physical community in a piece of America that will be physically well-removed from much of the pain we expect to visit the major Metro areas of the country.

I've called it a Citadel. Others have called it a redoubt. If you want to avoid a few stereotypes when discussing the issue with friends and family, call it a "Gated Community". But the point is, we know our history, and we understand the Nature of Man, and we have taken active, real steps forward to build in the face of those who would enslave and destroy.

There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. ~ Daniel Webster

You and I have decided how we intend to deal with Men who mean to be Masters.

Hard work lies before us all, if we intend to be free men at Liberty.

Evil Men will exist in every Age of Man. Once in a while when Liberty contracts, we will need to fall back, form ranks, and channel our resources to keep Liberty alive.

Here is a reality as true as any offered by our Founders quoted above: If we do nothing, Evil will win and Liberty will die on our watch.

Kerodin
III