Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Samurai, FGB, and Myself.

The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one's body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one's master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead.
-Hagakure, Book of the Samurai

This is how I will take my approach to FGB. (Okay, maybe it is a little melodramatic but none the less...) I have experienced FGB several times and know the sting it yields and the expectations that stand before me. I will walk into this competition smiling yet feeling like the tiniest warrior standing on the battlefield of giants. I will not fear being broken, humbled, and left puking in a puddle of my own sweat and tears (i.e. last year) That doesn't concern me this time. I understand. I am at peace with it.

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