I believe this was in part inspired by Amelia’s recent viewing of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power on Netflix. I was a big He-Man and later She-Ra fan as a kid, and had heard really good things about this new series. It won a number of awards and I heard it had lots of great diversity and strong female characters. What I have seen has lived up to the hype and it definitely falls into the category of shows my kids watch that I can like, too.
But back to the backyard dojo, watching the kids out there made me think of a scene from the movie, The Mask of Zorro, where the elder Zorro was introducing the training for the new guy, Alejandro.
In that scene, the older Zorro explained that the place where Alejandro stood was called the training circle, or Master’s Wheel.
He explains it thusly: “This circle will be your whole world, your whole life…there is nothing outside it. As your skill improves, you will progress to a smaller circle. With each new circle, your world contracts.”
I’ve actually thought about this scene a lot since all of this began. The idea is that moving to ever smaller circles eventually brings one inward and directs focus to personal growth. Inside ourselves is the smallest circle.
In my more contemplative moments, I think about what we’re going through as sort of our own Master’s Wheel. We are put in a smaller circle and it is an opportunity to sharpen focus and skill. The smaller circle can, of course, be claustrophobic, crazed and scary, but maybe there is an opening for growth here, too.
Erin and I have talked about the fact that the fact that everything has come to a halt has really caused us to slow down and examine what is really vital. What is “essential,” to use a hot term of the day.
By no means am I saying, “woo, this is great!” Obviously we are living through an immensely trying time and people everywhere are really suffering. But so much is out of our control, I guess what I am saying is that all any of us can do is try to do the best with what we’re handed right now.
Each day has its own challenges and victories. For my part, I’m trying to shift my gaze from the long term thinking I am prone to and instead work harder to be present in each moment. That’s why I’m writing this blog. To remind myself to be present, pay attention and look at each day as it is, warts and all.
I hope everyone can find something like that to hold on to. When life hands you a viral pandemic, I guess you make viral-pandemic-ade? Yeah, that doesn’t really sound right. Scratch that.
But seriously, I hope anyone reading this does appreciate the gravity of the situation we’re in and is doing everything to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. Take each day as it is, too, and allow for the fact that they aren’t all going to be sunny. While optimism isn’t always my strongest suit, I do have faith that we can all come out of this better and stronger on the other side.
And hopefully I’ll have completed my training soon enough to defeat Zorro’s dastardly nemesis, Don Rafael Montero, and foil his pan to buy California from Mexico. Because that would be…hold up, didn’t the U.S. sort of end up doing that? Uh…never mind.
