"Way of the Dragon", starring Bruce Lee, is one of my favorite films. Lee goes around kicking tail and taking names all over the place. Then somehow, he ends up in Rome, at the Colosseum, fighting Chuck Norris. This is the Unstoppable Force meeting the Immovable Object. Chuck Norris once fought Superman. The loser had to wear his underwear on the outside of his pants. Bruce Lee fought Chuck Norris, and won. The universe stopped spinning for just a little while.
I was queuing up to get my ticket to tour the Colosseum yesterday, thinking about the impossibility of Lee/Norris, when I spotted an Asian man in the line, just behind me. The lines in Rome are not like the USA or Germany. We tend to stay in our places and wait our turn. The lines in Southern Europe, and evidently Asia, are a bit more chaotic. It's every man for himself. I saw him. I saw his eyes narrowing, sizing me up. He knew he could pass me in the line. It was on like Donkey Kong.
"I don't initiate violence. I retaliate." (Chuck Norris)
I was at a disadvantage, because AsiaMan only had a wife with him. I was toting my wife and two daughters. Little did he know, however, that I have been dodging lines my whole life. Nobody gets ahead of me. As we turned the corner, the line collapsed into a jostling crowd, and AsiaMan took the inside track along one of the columns supporting the stadium above. Good move. He edged slightly ahead of me, but I still had a few tricks up my sleeve.
"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves." (Bruce Lee)
The Art of Line Breaking is to keep moving forward, yet in a subtle way. I noticed that AsiaMan was being a little too aggressive. My solution was to stand just in his way, while putting Katherine directly in his path. This enabled me to judge his level of sensitivity. If he brushed aside an innocent little girl, then he was going to get in a fight with somebody, namely me, but probably a few dozen other people as well.
AsiaMan started sighing and groaning. He lost Round One, but my opponent was definitely not defeated. He waited.
The line, such as it was, wound around another 2,000 year old column, creating another spasm of activity in the crowd. AsiaMan surged ahead to my right. He took a commanding lead! I began to despair, holding my head down in disgust. That's when I saw her.
Katherine caught the scent of the chase. She began to make her way forward, knifing effortlessly through the crowd. It was a beautiful sight. She separated hapless lineholders like chaff from the wheat. AsiaMan started to get nervous. We were within 10 feet of the ticket window, without much room for maneuver. I straddled two ticket lines, keeping my options open for the ultimate strike. He was stuck in Line One, a fatal mistake. My opponent gave me the container. I filled it like water.
Sometime later, as we surveyed the ruins of the Colosseum, thinking back to the days of gladiators, I saw AsiaMan. Our eyes met. Gone was the confidence. He was defeated. I smiled the smile of humble victory and look over my shoulder for Caesar to give me the thumbs-up. No need to gloat. He was a worthy opponent, and as it turned out, he had to fight against two people.
Justice has nothing to do with victor nations and vanquished nations, but must be a moral standard that all the world's peoples can agree to. To seek this and to achieve it - that is true civilization. Hideki Tojo
I realized sometime later that I did not need to seek the approval of any man like Caesar. My life did not hang in the balance, based on my performance in the arena. I did not need to curry the favor of the fickle crowds. I had already been given my approval by Christ, who died for me. Who was I to hold a grudge against my enemy?
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Jesus)
The man disappeared. I never saw him again, but the lesson I learned was that nobody wins in the ring. All the gladiators eventually die. We must move beyond the fight. But first, I'm gonna beat you to the front of the line.
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