“Clashes Among Aikidoka,” by Drew Gardner

With its beautiful mission of world peace, grand and bordering on grandiose, Aikido can fail even at the individual dojo level. A bold statement just came to mind of Mr. Miyagi’s words in “The Karate Kid:” “No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher.” Granted, Erikson from “Rambo II” is an example of a horrendous power-tripping sensei, but overall, Miyagi’s statement is way too sweeping and therefore incorrect.

Within an Aikidojo, personality clashes exist. The sensei could be excellent or evil, but either way not fully responsible. This is true even in a kids’ class, before the students are prepared to make thoughtful decisions on their own.

There are 7 billion personalities in the world, but just for argument I’ll group Aikidoka into two primary categories. There are the ones who train in Aikido who grasp the essence and seek higher spiritual peace. Then there are those who don’t care about Aikido’s mission and might enjoy simply arming themselves with the complex, sophisticated forms of Aikiwaza.

Fortunately, I have found that people with whom I clash usually tend to leave most of our differences off the mat during keiko.

As far as Aikido’s mission leading to a peaceful world via a peaceful Japan via peaceful dojos via peaceful Aikidoka, the tiny dojo “families” all over the world need to feel the proper common thread among themselves before love can reach beyond.