A Modern Day Parable (2)

A modern day parable: Do not repeat mistakes

When I was learning kung fu (shao lin long arm form, for those of you interested) my instructor would never let me redo a bad move; I had to keep on going through the sequence of moves. If you are doing a sequence of moves, and then make a mistake, it is human nature to stop the sequence and redo the move. If you are doing an individual move, then that’s of course correct to keep redoing it until you get it right. But my instructor explained to me (and my sword instructor told me the same thing) that if you are in a sequence, a redo of one mistaken move then programs into one’s synapses and muscles a hesitation and an error mentality into that place in the sequence. So in addition to having perhaps acquired sensitivity to a singular move that you have a problem with, by stopping to redo that move, you also develop sensitivity to that place in the sequence of moves. It is important to not repeat a mistaken move, even to do a redo, if that move is in a sequence of moves. You can think of many ways to apply that advice to life.
I thought of this parable when thinking about Barry Bonds. It is obvious that there are serious issues with how Barry Bonds is accused of using performance enhancing drugs (steroids) and it is also obvious that he is going to possess one of baseball’s most revered records (homeruns.) I hate what drug abuse has done to users, and also what it has done to sports integrity. But because I believe in moving through the sequence of moves, if I were attending his equaling and then breaking the record, my hands would applaud the sequence of baseball legacy with his new record, while my mouth would boo at the top of my lungs him and his “alleged” mistaken move (“cheating.”) And then move on to make this sport clean again.