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SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THE KARATE KID II, THERE ARE MULTIPLE SPOILERS BELOW. AND A LITTLE SPOILER INTO COBRA KAI SEASON 3. EITHER WATCH FIRST OR READ AT YOUR OWN…
Maybe it was the beer I had, maybe it’s because it’s been an emotional week, or maybe it’s just a sense of “yes, this is the way” - but I am in tears watching The Karate Kid II.
Mr. Miyagi reminds us that even if someone has wronged us, destroyed our land, tried to kill us… that forgiveness is still possible.
People’s actions are not a reflection of who you are but a reflection of either who they are or a projection of their unhealed past.
During a storm, Mr. Miyagi saved the life of a man who tried to take his. He could’ve let the man die and the village would belong to the villagers again. This man, who not only tried to take Mr. Miyagi’s life, but he also tried to take away from the people who lived in his village and made their way of living through their homes and farms in that village. And yet, during the storm, when the man, with a beam from the house that crashed from the storm was laying across his chest, screamed “you coward, here to kill me when I can’t defend myself” and then, Mr. Miyagi & Daniel-san got the beam off his chest and saved his life. The man then changed his ways. He gave the village back to the people. He asked for forgiveness from Mr. Miyagi for the way he had treated him. Sure, it’s a movie, but if someone I hated saved my life, it would be pretty hard to hate them after, no? The power of love and connection overpowers the power of hate.
At the end of the movie, they show the power of collective meditation and prayer. Everyone gets behind Daniel-San by playing their drums and empowered him to tap into a strength within him even he didn’t even know he had. Did he kill Chozen? No. He gave him a second chance. When you watch Cobra Kai, you see that Chozen learns from his past and changes.
We could go even further into the Karate Kid story and look at Johnny Lawrence - who was the bully in the first Karate Kid. If you watch Cobra Kai, you learn more about Johnny’s story - how he was bullied and how he felt Daniel was the bully!
Two big lessons from these movies and the series:
1. Change is possible, but it’s up to us to give people the space and opportunity to change & grow by forgiving them… by forgiving others, it also offers us the opportunity to change & grow and let go of our pain & suffering and step into our power. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson once said in an interview with Oprah, “Every day, it’s a new day to earn respect.” We can either keep people stuck in a box because that limits their growth and their potential and that also limits our growth and our potential. Every day, every moment provides a new opportunity for new energy… new.
2. The power of the collective belief, collective energy. There have been accounts of mass meditation (I’m talking thousands of people), all focused on the same intention that have helped people heal, that have helped people walk who haven’t walked in years. I have asked my mom why she goes to Church and what she gets out of it and she didn’t quite have an answer at first. After lots of questions, she came down to the answer that it’s the power of community - everyone praying together, feeling like a part of something bigger than herself. The power of collective prayer. The power of collective meditation. Being a part of something bigger than you. Whether it’s a group meditation or Church or a group hike - when you have multiple people working together with the same intention - how powerful that energy is. Energy. Connection. Collective.
So, thank you, Karate Kid, and Mr. Miyagi (played by Noriyuki "Pat" Morita) for teaching the power of forgiveness and change and the power of connection and collective intention and energy. Try it out, let me know how it goes...