Perception.

When growing up, my mum raised me to believe in right and wrong, a strict set of morals as my compass and that life was black and white.

I believed what I was taught until my early 30's when I had a epiphany...

People who I thought were lying or being deceptive... weren't. In many cases those who I thought were bearing false witness just had a different perception of what transpired.

Wow, Mother was wrong and this epiphany freed me to see beyond my own perception.

I'll temper this epiphany with the following: while a person's perception makes them believe what they think are the "facts", it doesn't always make them correct or right. Perception can be distorted by many factors, drug & alcohol use, personal beliefs,mental illness and manipulation by others with a agenda.

It was George Bernard Shaw who observed that Britain and America are two countries divided by a common language. Thanks to the internet, we former colonials can anger our British cousins and they us with a stroke of a key and the enter button. Often these internet flame wars start over how each post is perceived by those across the pond and not the true intent of the poster. Sometimes, it's those who wish to stir the pot for some sort of personal gain or pleasure. These kind of people are found on both sides of the Atlantic.

Wouldn't it be nice if more of us in the WMA world looked beyond the manipulation by others and learned to see beyond our current perception of events?

It might help us all grow as western martial artists.

Why don't we all get along in the WMA world?

It's seems that I'm one of the few who really thinks that we should.

14 years ago I learned the basics of modern saber and tried to apply it to the Scottish Highland
Broadsword... in other words, like many who have come to the world of Historic Fencing, I came via a back yard homemade system that was shite.... When I discovered the WWW and
others like me were working from historic manuals I knew I'd found heaven.

When I first discovered WMA on the internet I bought into the whole idea that it is a world wide movement... I still do, but it seems there are a select few out there that would rather turn this movement in to a "us vs them" mindset.

Sometimes it seems to be a ego thing: groups that formed around a strong personality then broke all ties with the rest of the WMA world as they are "the one and only true way of the sword". Other times it seems to be one (or more egos) battling it out to prove that they have"the one and only true way of the sword" on the internet to promote themselves (and in doing so feed their egos).

I know it's not about money as all of the WMA instructors I know either have a day job, or just earn enough to pay bills.

In my case, I spend a thousand or two of my own money on insurance and lender gear each year for my classes, then I donate my time to teach. Why? Cause it helps me understand the systems, helps me be a better instructor, swordsman and human being. By introducing more people to these arts it allows the WMA world to grow, by one new student at a time.

It's a shame more of us didn't do it this way, don't ya think?

I think with the many interpretations out there on the more popular systems a student of the sword should try them out, see what one instructor teaches vs another. Look at what works and why and be willing to take those ideas that work well and use them with your "base" in that system.

None of us have it 100% "right", some of us let prior training blind us on our own work that distorts the system in to something that it wasn't. I know when I first picked up the longsword in the German system, my years of backsword got in the way. I feel others let prior EMA training sometimes influence their work.

We are all only the sum of our personal knowledge.

It's this fact that brings me back to the concept of the WMA world... by putting egos aside and working together we can put the best bits of these interpretations together to try to come close to what the systems really were, or we can labor in our little ego feeding groups and hold ourselves back.