Krav Maga Coffee Memories






Krav Maga Coffee Memories


By Moshe Katz

Starbucks, Brussels Airport, Belgium.

March 21, 2013

As is my custom I arrived at the airport hours before the El Al counter even opened.Thankfully there is a Starbucks directly across from the El Al counter, Row 7, Gate B.  Nice reggae music playing in the background. Relaxing.
Coffee memories; a long cup of coffee. You cannot drink it fast, makes you slow down, relax, think, take a pause in our hectic lives. Perhaps that is why I write best with coffee. Drink it fast and you get burned inside, slow down, let nature take its time, take your lead from nature.

Friends formed over coffee, deals concluded, thoughts crystallized.

People walking by, coming, going, everyone is going somewhere; going home, following a dream, meeting an obligation, real or imagined, closing a circle or opening a new one. Here new ideas are born and old ones laid to rest. Coffee, it changes everything, take it slow.

Do not respond quickly for your may respond in haste, have a cup of coffee, slow down and think it over.

Changes take time. The coffee bean meets the hot water, total opposites in form and color. The hot water changes color and taste by virtue of the coffee. The coffee bean loses itself but becomes something greater. It becomes one with the water, a new being, creating something greater than itself.

Faces and Places come to mind, my dear father of blessed memory, how he loved a good cup of coffee. I can picture him sitting with me and sipping his coffee while collecting his thoughts. My brothers, may the living be separated from the deceased, all devout coffee drinkers. Coffee around the world; Ukraine, Florida, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Milan, Italy, Jacobs coffee in Germany, Schamong coffee,  South Africa with Des, Annie, Jennie and Tyler, with my friend JC in Zurich and Esther in Israel, with the gang on Tour and Train.

Coffee, you have to relax.

With Krav Maga I often see beginning students who cannot relax, but ultimately to reach the highest levels in Krav Maga, you must relax, there is no other way, the flow, the rapid response comes from relaxing.  (but I am not saying non coffee drinkers are not welcome, some of our best people do not drink coffee, Craig, Serve…so…do not worry)

Krav Maga cannot be static, unchanging, like the coffee bean it enters the hottest water and changes everything, including itself. Krav Maga becomes new every day, changing flavor and color.

Airports, the scenes of some of the worst attacks on innocent civilians; Lod Airport in Israel, LAX, Athens, Zurich….

We train in Krav Maga to be ready, to be ready to respond, to react, to live freely. So that no man shall walk in fear, so we can live on our own terms. So we can enjoy our cup of coffee..

People walking by, I watch them, each one with his/her luggage, each with his/her "baggage", fears and concerns. Each one with the outfit they chose to showcase themselves to the world today, each one with hopes for a new day…

I am here to help make that a better day, a safer day, there are still so many dreams to be fulfilled.

By Moshe Katz

Comments

  1. Kurt MMarch 24, 2013 at 1:50 PM

    Very thought provoking. Not sure I can get into the coffee thing though. :) I'll stick to tea.-Kurt

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marc SpecterApril 7, 2013 at 9:12 AM

    Wow...I had no idea that Moshe could be so poetic. A very interesting metaphor, the green coffee bean, fresh-plucked, as the krav student. The HUGE change it takes to become proficient, to become the krav martial artist. How many stages there are on the journey of both the bean and the student. Me, I guess I'm still in the roaster. Good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. kravmagafithitJune 2, 2021 at 4:44 AM

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    ReplyDelete

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