Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on February 11, 2004.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been thinking about the last 30 years of building our dojo and reflecting on all of the hardships and obstacles that were overcome, all the battles and struggles we survived and all of the grief and sad moments that still must be remembered. Truly it was a struggle but nothing I would ever exchange for if I had another opportunity to do this over again. The greatest struggle of all, I suppose, was to remain true to one's self and the principles of Aikido.
As I was pondering this for our upcoming anniversary program, I watched a program, "Escape from Tibet." It is about the many Tibetans who have been imprisoned, tortured and killed in Tibet and those who have tried to escape this oppression into India to join their spiritual and governmental leader, His Holiness The Dalai Lama. I was so moved to see these people struggle on this freezing-cold, snow bound 1,000 mile walk over the Himalayan mountains into India. When I saw their struggle, sitting here in my office with a small heater to warm my feet, I realized that my own struggles are so small compared to many others in this world.
We should never be so proud of what we do, especially when so many people all over the world are suffering so badly. It would be such shame to brag about my own struggles now and so I have to change my speech.
We all go through this 1,000 mile journey in our lives, each one of us must cross over their own Himalayan mountains to reach the other side. If we can see the suffering of others, we can respect their circumstances above our own. Isn't this a natural human sentiment from the heart?
More than boast of our own courage, struggles and victories, we must count our blessings and be compassionate to those less fortunate than ourselves.
Ultimately, we can be proud as long as we serve others and train correctly in the Path of Aikido.