Dear Shihan,
I wanted to share with you an example of true warrior spirit that I was fortunate enough to be a part of. You may remember that Mr. Geitner and Joseph share a birthday. Joseph expressed about a month ago that he wanted to do a gift exchange. He had thought about what to get Mr. Geitner and settled on an, as he put it, “old style writing pen” or fountain type pen. He approached Mr. Geitner about wanting to do a gift exchange and they agreed to meet on Tuesday and they sat together to exchange wrapped gifts.
Joseph insisted that Mr. Geitner go first and he opened the pen that Joseph picked out for him. He was delighted to find the pen was a Shaefer fountain pen and told Joseph that he had one like it in high school and was thrilled that it was a fountain pen. Joseph was happy that his gift meant something more than just the pen. Then Joseph started reading the letter that Mr. Geitner wrote to accompany his gift. The letter talked about setting goals and remembering that realization of those goals come with hard work and effort. The gift was as much sentimental as anything I have seen in a long time.
It was Mr. Geitner’ first 1st place competition tournament trophy to help remind Joseph that if an 83 year old can set and reach goals, there is no reason he can’t. Both of them were clearly thinking of others when they gave the gifts and I loved seeing the both of them appreciate the ability to be of service through the giving of a gift. Thank you for creating and encouraging this wonderful environment at AMAA and know that the impact goes far beyond the doors of the dojo!
Very respectively,
Chris S.