Heart:
Published 10/05/2009
By Spencer Sensei
There is an old saying in fighting that the winner is never determined by the size of the dog in the fight, but by the size of the fight in the dog. This is what many fighters refer to as “Heart.” Determination, stubbornness, and courage, are components of this intangible thing known as heart, but it is still more. It is your personal belief that victory is at your finger tips. Heart is that little voice inside that speaks to you and under no circumstance will it let you give up. Heart is at the core of every success. It was heart that built this country. During the revolutionary war, our forefathers faced overwhelming odds. At Valley Forge our soldiers remained true to the cause despite the cold, hunger, and hardship while facing the most feared army on the planet. Great discoveries in medicine and science have been made by those that would not give up when their colleagues were telling them that it cannot be done. They understood that success was built upon failure and that failure really only occurs when one stops fighting. Heart keeps the fighter in the fray when he/she should give up and lay down. It is heart that pushes the injured fighter up from the canvas before the ten count ends. Heart keeps a victim alive and fighting off their attacker while blinded by fear and pain. Heart keeps you moving forward when every cell in your body says quit.
It is difficult to stand alone against the mob. It takes courage to make that stand, but it takes heart to endure the challenges of standing up for your beliefs. Martin Luther King took a stand against the societal abuses of his day. It took courage for this Baptist minister to stand against a racist community, but it took heart to continue the fight that eventually took his life. Heart is enduring the pain and continuing to fight.
I had the good fortune to watch heart in action one Sunday afternoon. The Arizona Cardinals were playing the Green Bay Packers in an NFC conference playoff game. It turned out to be the highest scoring game in playoff history. Early on the Packers fell behind by seventeen points. Many teams would have become dejected, and their play would have declined, but not the Packers. Aaron Rogers brought his team back and overtook the Cardinals only to have Kurt Warner keep his team fighting to end the game matching every Packer score. In the last few seconds of the game, Warner had his team in position to win the game only to have the field goal kicker miss a very short field goal. Sure victory turned into disappointment. Many teams would have resigned this game to fate and accept defeat. The Cardinal fans could taste the emanate loss on their tongues. The tie score meant the game would go into overtime. In the NFL to determine which team gets the ball first, in overtime, the referees toss a coin. Neither team’s defense had been able stop the other team’s offense, and everyone in the stands and on the sidelines believed the team that won the coin toss would most likely win the game. The Packers won the toss. A collective sigh filtered through the stands, like air leaving a balloon. The rules of overtime state that the first team to score wins the game. Cardinal fans had lost confidence in their defense, but what they had underestimated was the heart of those battered and bruised warriors. Playing in one of the hardest scraps of their season, the defense, knowing it was do or die, gambled and ran a blitzed on Aaron Rogers. The hit placed on him by the safety caused a fumble. In a moment that seemed like a day the Cardinal’s fans watched in disbelief as Carlos Dansby, a Cardinal’s linebacker, plucked the ball from the air and trotted unfettered into the end zone winning the game. A moment of disbelief turned into jubilant celebration and for one brief span of time the fans again believed in miracles. The truth is that without heart the Cardinals would have lost that game, but two teams with heart gave us a sports spectacle that will go down n Cardinal’s football history.
When my oldest son Mike was ten years old he began fighting in full contact kickboxing. Mike was never all that interested in karate because everyone he knew was a black belt, so it held no special meaning for him, but kickboxing now that was something different. He trained hard and would eventually win a local state championship in the sport. Mike was never the best technician, but he had heart. One afternoon I found myself talking to his coach. He pointed at another fighter and said, “See that fighter over at the punching bag.” I said, “Yeah,” nodding. He continued, “That guy has the skills to be one of the best kick-boxers I’ve ever produced. The problem is that he has no heart. If I could transplant Mike’s heart into him, he would be unstoppable.” Heart is what makes an average fighter good, and what makes a good fighter great.
I was fortunate enough to hear Kurt Warner speak on what makes a champion. He spoke eloquently not about himself but about Lance Armstrong the Tour-de-France winner. Lance Armstrong is the poster child for heart. Mr. Warner related a story that depicts the essence of heart. During one his races Mr. Armstrong was worn beyond his limits. He was ill and exhausted. While he was being transfused with fluids, it began to rain. The wind began to blow. No one in their right mind would race in that weather. In the morning Mr. Armstrong parted the curtains and saw that the wind would be blowing against him during this leg of the race. This just happened to be the worst part of the course. It was the uphill leg. Lance Armstrong smiled and knew it was going to a good day for him because he was most likely the only racer that wanted race under these circumstances. At the point of collapse he wanted to compete against all odds. He won the race.
Every martial artist must ask himself do I have the courage to keep punching when every ounce of energy is drained from my body and common sense tells you to quit. To quit or press forward and die fighting is the fighter’s choice. Heart makes the choice for most great fighters. Anything less than a never stop attitude, in an attack on the street, will get you badly injured or killed. Studies show that the odds of a woman surviving an attack by resisting are better than those that simply comply or surrender. We will never know how many women would have gone unharmed if they had told their attacker “No” and resisted when they were instructed to leave the safety of a public venue. It takes courage to say no. It takes heart to say “No!” It also takes heart to claw at the attacker’s eyes until your exhausted and not allow him to drag you into the darkness. Heart knows no fear and no quit. Do you have heart?