Life is not the same as yesterday, it is no longer last week, we are living in the now. We cannot treat life as before, we face it as our reality at this moment. Good or bad it is so, our energy can be wasted on complaints or we can improve on our current situation. We can build now, so that when the opportunity comes we are ready, if not we can watch as others reach their goals.
Camp Minidoka, WWII
I am half Japanese, and thanks to a DNA test I recently took, I also now know I am 13% Lakota Sioux. My ethnicity is a part of my story, my heritage.
My father was born in America, but his mother and father were both born in Japan. They emigrated from Japan legally at the turn of the century. They became farmers and had to lease land because at that time it was illegal for Asian immigrants to own land in America or to become naturalized citizens. Property laws were written to exclude everyone but white immigrants and those of African descent. My father and his sister were born in America, so they were the first US citizens in my family. The family built up a profitable agriculture business on the leased farm land and also exported GE appliances to Japan. My father attended the University of Washington from 1939 – 1941 until the US entered World War II in 1941.
In April of 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which cleared the way for the deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps. Soon after, 120,000 Japanese (of whom 62% were American citizens) were relocated to concentration camps.
They gave these camps names like “Camp Harmony” which was located in Puyallup, Washington at a fairground. The Japanese were only able to bring the things they could carry with them to the camps. Many people lived in animal stalls of the fairgrounds or in makeshift shanties, which provided poor shelter come winter. Their homes, businesses, and land were lost. Family heirlooms such as swords and paintings left behind were taken by the Americans representing the United States Government.
My father and his family would end up at Camp Minidoka in Idaho. My grandmother died in that camp. My father, along with a number of other fighting-age Japanese Americans volunteered for the Army, which was the only way to be allowed to leave the camp until the war ended.
The war ended in 1945, and at that time the Japanese were free to leave and move to where they wished. Many would start over in new places since their homes and businesses were taken from them. Many who left the camps vowed never to speak Japanese again.
They worked hard to rebuild their lives. Even after the war, Japanese were prohibited from buying land in many states until 1956.
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles
My father rarely mentioned those times to me. Despite prejudices he encountered, he was successful in his career after the war. He introduced me to the Japanese culture from a young age, but it was always made very clear to me that we were Americans.
Massacre at Wounded Knee
When I hear people say the worst mass shooting in American history was at Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida, I wonder where they learned their history. On December 29th, 1890 at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota over 500 US Army and members of the 7th Cavalry opened fire on 350 Lakota Indians in their camp. They killed 300 Sioux, many of them women and children. The Cavalry dead numbered only 25, many of which were killed by friendly fire from their own Hotchkiss guns. As a reward for the mass slaughter of Lakota Sioux, twenty of the US soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award given to those in the military service.
These stories are a small part of the struggles of my ancestors, but they do not define me or dictate my future. I am proud of being mixed race. No derogatory words towards my heritage can harm me or derail my dreams. If someone looks down on me because of my ethnicity, I know that I cannot change the way they think. That can only come from within them. I can choose how I will act, how I will react, and how hard I will work for my dreams.
Every ethnicity has a story of struggle at one point in their history. The only way we can make this world a better place is to work on our own behavior. While the setbacks are a part of our story, they do not define or limit us unless we let them. The best way to combat prejudice is with success.
Galatians 3:82
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Moving from Los Angeles was exciting and scary all at the same time. I knew I could always train people while I wrote on the side. I had no idea if I could still sell anything I wrote, being so far away from Hollywood and all the producers.
I love the martial arts and I love strength training. In Los Angeles,
Old School Boxing
I worked for Justin Fortune, a former boxer who fought Lennox Lewis the heavyweight champion who knocked out Mike Tyson.
Justin is a world class trainer who excels at strength and conditioning. He is very sought after by elite athletes in combat sports. He trains Manny Pacquiao before his fights. I learned a lot from Justin and from all the top-ranked talent that came into his gym. Justin would pass off clients to me that he was too busy to train. He gave me fighters and actors who I ended up training for a long time.
One time Justin passed off a young kid named Santiago who was training for a film role. He was not understanding the proper form for punches or the footwork, but he was willing to put in the time each day to get better. As I watched his boxing and physique improve over time, I also noticed his demeanor and confidence change. Seeing someone change in front of my eyes was great.
My ministry as a Christian is helping those around me achieve their goals through physical health. Ministry is about each of us helping those that we can, in ways that we are best equipped to do so. I started training people in our basement and outside. My approach is simple, I teach each person like I am teaching a professional. I explain it, show them, and if they choose to listen I show them some more. If they just want to get in a workout and aren’t interested in learning proper technique, I back off on technique. Usually, after a time, they will also want to improve their form. I introduce them to a strength and conditioning program that is based on the programs we used for conditioning fighters in Los Angeles. Each person can go at their own speed and level.
After the big move, I wanted to start training people again in the Midwest. I knew it would take some time to build up clientele. Not long after moving, I was sent this link to a video about a gym named Rock Steady Boxing that teaches boxing for Parkinson’s patients. You can see an improvement in the quality of life after a few weeks in every patient who trains. I called them and tried to get into one of their weekend training programs, but they were booked until late in the year 2016. I added my name to a waiting list and received an email in March of 2016 that someone had canceled and they could fit me in that month if I was available – which I was.
The three days I trained at Rock Steady Boxing were life changing for me because I was taught about the disease by leading doctors, researchers and professors in the field, and I worked with actual Parkinson’s patients. One of the men in my group, Daniel, had just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I could see that it was weighing heavy on him. Daniel was a pastor in the south who wanted to learn the Rock Steady Boxing program to help others while he helped himself. Daniel had no boxing or training experience, so we partnered up and I helped him as much as I could. I showed him how to hold focus mitts and to throw punches.
I worked with many patients over the next few days and I saw the same thing in every one of their eyes. I saw hope! It was the first time since they were diagnosed with Parkinson’s that they could do something to help themselves. A way to improve their health and fight back. I watched and trained them as they joked and laughed. I was excited to find a way to branch out my ministry – this was something I could do and be proud of doing!
I started training my first Parkinson’s patient just over three months ago, and the changes have been amazing. He is stronger and his balance and coordination are off the charts now. I have him doing complicated footwork drill and he can keep up. The bonus is that I train his wife at the same time and she has also seen some amazing gains. Rock Steady Boxing gym always trains the spouse or caregiver alongside the patient, and they are referred to as “the cornerman.”
In my regular early morning fitness boxing classes, I recently gained another mature adult in my class, and I can see she is also making gains. When we get older we tend to think there is not much we can do. Wrong! There is much more that can be done, you just have to approach it in new ways.
Many people, believers, and non forget about their health or put it on the backburner. They forget that we must all take care of our bodies. God calls us to take care of the bodies he has given us so that we are strong enough to do his work.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body, is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Rock Steady Boxing:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/boxing-program-trains-patients-to-beat-parkinsons/
At 20 years old I believed I had life figured out. I knew how to put cash into my pocket and a roof over my head. I was able to do what I wanted whenever and wherever I wished.There was nothing I wanted from church, so in my mind, I didn’t need it. Same with God.
I determined to think positive, work hard and keep moving forward with my ultimate goals always in mind.
The formula was simple: get cash in whatever way possible, and keep it coming.
Why would I need God? I had science. I knew why the sky was blue and the sun came up every morning. I didn’t need to read a book that was thousands of years old and had no relevance to my modern life.
If you were to ask me how the world was created, I would have said the big bang. If you asked me what caused the big bang, I would have answered, “It just happened.”
That was my limited way of thinking because my world was so small. I had become a criminal at a young age. Organized crime is not just about committing crimes, it is a way of life that takes over. Everyone in the life looks at every situation through tinted glass: how can we benefit on a large scale. Everyone around me did the same. I cut my hair, shaved and dressed like I was told. Every person I was around was part of the life, or I didn’t consider them a friend.
I wanted to expand and become more successful which means I wanted more cash each week. I asked my capo, Jimmy, to put me with Mark – an older gambler who ran a sports book. In other words, Mark was a bookie. I had sold parlay cards and other sports gambling products so I knew the world. Mark showed me how to set up my book and balance it. I learned the lingo and the kind of bets gamblers would place.
The next year I was ready to go out on my own. My first year I did well because I had older guys like Mark helping me along. The next year I did even better and I expanded. Everyone gambles and it does not hurt anyone – this is what I told myself over and over again. This was a big lie because a person who is addicted to gambling will do anything to feel the thrill. Even when faced with ruin, these people kept gambling.
I soon swallowed up smaller bookies and they began working for me. The money came easily because I was the house and the house always makes 10% on any bet. I used the extra cash to loan out and gain more cash through loans. Gambling is unlike any other business because you are not out any real product, only figures on a sheet of paper.
After twelve years I couldn’t stand my life at all. I wanted out of the life, but I was not willing to go through the uncomfortable period it would take to change. The criminal’s dream is to find something that will bring in the same amount of cash that they are making except the profit becomes legal. Until I realized that my way of thinking was broken and had to change, I would go no place fast. It wasn’t until my dream became getting out of the life altogether, profit or not, that I would find the answer.
God’s timing is perfect, but I didn’t know that at the time. The FBI offered me a chance at a fresh start, and that was the turning point. I spent the next 8 years trying to undo what I spent my life before doing. While I was still a part of the criminal world for the next eight years, I was no longer there as a criminal but as an informant for the FBI.
God gave me a fresh start, but it took me almost another ten years of trying to start over on my own before I turned to Him.
The challenge for me was to let God guide me instead of trying to find my own way. It is a process that I am still going through and will be going through for the rest of my life. I know that everything I encounter is part of His plan, and I have to surrender my plans to His. When I look back at my life, I see a lot of mistakes. I also see God’s hand at work. Success, I have learned, is all relative to what you consider successful. The things our world considers success we learn in the Bible are very different from what early Christians, like Paul, considered most valuable – knowing Christ as our savior.
Philippians 3:7-14 (NIV)
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
I have learned some very hard lessons and all that I have learned about true success has helped me in two ways. The hard work and positive thinking is still a part of my life. I learned that I cannot be successful with doing what I feel is right, true success comes from knowing we are flawed and Christ bridged the gap between our flaws and God, offering himself as a sacrifice. All the success you think you have or aim for will never be enough until you ask God into your life and make knowing and serving Him your definition of success.
Leave
Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit.
It is a beautiful word, isn’t it? So strong and forceful,
the way you have always wanted to be. And you will
not be alone. You have never been alone. Don’t
worry. Everything will still be here when you get back,
It is you who will have changed.
Donald Miller
Those words sum it all up. I started thinking today about the moves I have made in my lifetime.
I have already moved ten times during my time on earth. Five of them were with my parents, so they don’t count. The others I chose on my own. Three of my moves were major life changing moves. I moved to Fort Lauderdale in the early 90’s, where I had a beachfront condo waiting for me. Brooklyn, New York was a bigger move in 1999, and I had a nice apartment with a view of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Then I came back to live in Los Angeles.
I was drawn back to SoCal like a moth to a flame, because I felt this was home. It is no longer home, and doesn’t feel like home, because the city has changed. Maybe I have changed. It could be both. The city has descended into lawlessness. The police no longer enforce rules. There are homeless people camping closer and closer to my home, and many of them support their drug habits breaking into homes and cars. I still thought I could and would deal, because, after all, “Hey, its Hollywood.”
I moved here because I am a writer, and I wanted to write for the big screen. Things went well. I sold a couple of screenplays, a writer’s dream! Things are never what they seem, and I did not like what I saw. It just is not for me anymore. It used to be for me, or at least that is what I thought.
I met a wonderful woman who would become my wife, and that changed everything. My whole outlook on life changed. I saw the way we were living as counter productive for our souls.
We needed to know our purpose and fulfill it, not eat at the latest restaurant or shmooze with the hottest reality stars. We found great happiness in the vast nature around Los Angeles that so few ever even venture into. We found a quiet paradise in the rocky barren deserts. We decided together: why are we living only for our weekends, just waiting to escape and enjoy the open space? And then, recently, the chance came to move to the country. An opportunity knocked, and we both felt the time was right. So here we are packing.
We leave behind friends and familiar places for a new adventure. In every good movie, the main character is challenged to step up and make their lives better. Will it be? We hope so! We do know that living everyday like a drone is no way to live. The countdown begins now. This is our story.
We’re packing up our lives in Los Angeles, saying goodbye, and ditching the Hollywood Hills for the flatland of the Midwest.
Why?
Space. There is not much space in Los Angeles. And way too many people, IMHO.
Not much water either (its a desert).
Time to take a different path, break away from the crowds and find our own space. This is the first step, and who knows where it will lead us.
To quote Robert Frost, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Motivation, Inspiration and Change 