Father's Day is in June. I have two sons. They are technically adults now, but I still feel accountable and responsible for them and to them. Being in a parental, teaching, or role model position is like that. It should be like that.

We have a deep responsibility to each other. We have a deep connection. We have entered and blended into a dance that is mutually beneficial and nurturing. At times, I am the teacher. At other times, I am the student. I pass on what was passed to me and my sons will pass it on to others. I am only a small part in the continual flow that connects the past, through the present, and far into the future.

As parents, we are responsible and accountable for what we teach our children. We need to teach them how to make it in the world. All parents do the best they can. No parent ever wakes up in the morning making a list of all the ways they can misdirect or harm their children. Parents give all they have, even what doesn't work for them. Whatever parents do not give, they do not have. As people, we need to forgive our parents, ourselves, and our children for imperfections. We still need to strive to be the best we can be, with the best interest and safety of our children as our focus, priority, and goal.

As a Sempai (senior student) I have a similar sense of accountability and responsibility to my Sensei (teacher), Ryu (school), Doshi (fellow students), and Kohai (junior students). As a student, I hold my teachers accountable and responsible to illustrate and demonstrate a high level of efficiency and effectiveness in martial integrity in an environment that is safe and conducive to training. It is my privilege and obligation to pass these lessons on with equal congruency and ethics.

I am accountable and responsible as a parent, a Sempai, and a contributing participant of the world community. We all have a social responsibility to each other to practice a high degree of ethics. Ethics is simply doing the right thing. The right thing is not always easy or politically correct, but it is the truth. We usually know what is the right thing, what the truth is. If we do not know, we have a responsibility to admit we do not know and then go find out. In conflict resolution, we must decide that we all win or we all lose. Like it or not, we are connected and accountable and responsible to and for each other.

On Father's Day, and everyday, we need to honor all our teachers and the ones we teach.

Thanks for listening, for the opportunity to be of services, and for sharing the journey. Now get back to training. KWATZ!