Recently I heard this incredible story I had to share.
Before he became a famous NASA astronaut, John Glenn was a fighter pilot in the Korean war.
One day, when he and his commanding officer were flying low near enemy territory, his commanding officer’s plane was shot down, and Glenn saw him evacuate and parachute down. He didn’t know where his fellow officer landed exactly, so he decided to circle the area and wait for rescue helicopters.
Help didn’t come.
And here’s the insane part, Glenn continued to circle the area, even though his fuel was running so low he wouldn’t be able to return to his base.
Talk about commitment to your friend.
But as crazy as this sounds, this was his plan. He did a calculation in his head of how much fuel he had left and how far he was from base.
He stayed circling the area as long as possible, and as his fuel levels neared zero, he shot straight up to 40,000 feet, and when the engine totally cut out as he calculated it would, he glided all the way back across the ENTIRE span of North Korea to his base in South Korea.
We can barely figure out how much change I’m owed at the supermarket, and this guy is risking his life on a dizzyingly complex mid-air calculation in the hopes of saving his friend.
But it gets crazier.
When he landed, he didn’t just sigh of relief. He got back into another plane and flew back to search for his friend.
Long story short, he never found him. His commanding officer survived and became a prisoner of war and was released after the war.
This had me thinking, Glenn never prepared for his specific scenario, but all his training in the past gave him the tools he needed to make the right decisions when it came to the moment.
This is exactly what karate does.
It gives kids the tools they need to succeed later in life, so they can handle life situations they don’t expect, but will inevitably happen.
Whether it’s the confidence to stand up for him/ herself when getting bullied, or the ability to focus on a test when there are lots of distractions, karate creates the character that kids need to thrive under pressure!
Parents can’t prepare their kids for every scenario that can happen, but they CAN help their kids prepare for unforeseen circumstances by training them in life skills so they can figure it out on their own!
It takes a village to raise a kid, and we love being part of that village.