The Karate Kid

One of my favorite movies from the '80s is "The Karate Kid". Most people have seen this movie and enjoyed it. It is about a New Jersey boy who moves to California and has trouble adapting to the surroundings. Local tough guys start beating him on a regular basis. So, he wants to continue karate lessons for protection, only to find out that the bullies are karate students as well.

The handy man in his building one day saves him from getting a severe beating by the local toughs. This old man from Okinawa reluctantly agrees to teach him karate the way his father taught him. However, the agreement has stipulations that he will teach, and that the boy will learn, with no questions asked. He then gives the boy a number of tasks with specific instructions on how to perform the tasks. The tasks are washing and waxing cars, painting the fence, painting the house, and sanding wooden floors.

Finally, the boy is exasperated with doing all this work for the man without compensation and without learning any karate. The boy turns to leave, and then the old man calls him back. He demands the boy show him the specific instructions as he attacks him in various ways. Each attack is deflected by prescribed movements he performed doing the laborious tasks. Within 30 seconds, he realized he learned more karate and ways to defend himself than he ever thought possible. Obviously, the relationship between teacher and student grew very strong from that point on.

The point here is that not all lessons are learned in the classroom, or in a normal way. Even if we don't understand some things as they are happening to us, we can and still do learn from the experience. Even profound truths can be found in simple things.

What do you say to someone who just lost his job and has no means to support his family? "This could be a blessing in disguise" or "this experience will make you stronger"? Even though hindsight may prove that to be true, he won't see it and will even likely resent you for saying it.

As I have pointed out the last several months that the economy is in for a very bumpy ride, there are a good many things we can learn from the experience as it is happening. The bumps are only starting and are going to get much worse. As the economy falters, investors are shifting their assets to historically proven safe havens such as gold and silver. Gold prices topped $900 per ounce for the first time ever this week before retreating back to $881.20. Silver also reached a 28 year high this week before retreating back to $16.14 per ounce. The US dollar index also retreated slightly from it's plunge to close at 76.39. The stock market also had a horrendous week.

What lessons can we learn from these periods of economic trouble? First, where there are problems, there are opportunities. Even if you can't see them, they are there. If needed, find someone to help you see them. This not only applies to the financial world, but in every aspect of our lives - spiritually, emotionally, and even physically.

What can you learn today?

If you falter in times of trouble,
how small is your strength!
Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?

I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-
and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. Proverbs 24:10-12,32-34 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com