Krav Maga coffee memories
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL

March 21, 2013, Brussels Airport, Belgium

As is my custom, I arrived at the airport hours before the El Al counter opened. Thankfully there is a Starbucks directly across from the El Al counter, Row 7, Gate B. Nice reggae music playing in the background. Relaxing.

Coffee memories: a long cup of coffee. You cannot drink it fast, makes you slow down, relax, think, take a pause in our hectic lives. Perhaps that is why I write best with a cup of coffee. Drink it fast and you get burned inside, slow down, let nature take its time, take your lead from nature. 

Friendships formed over coffee, deals concluded, thoughts crystalized. 

People walking by, coming, going, everyone is going somewhere; going home, following a dream, meeting an obligation, real or imagined, closing a circle or opening a new one. Here new ideas are born and old ones laid to rest. Progress. Moving Forward. Coffee, it changes everything, take it slow.

Do not respond too quickly for you may respond in haste, have a cup of coffee, slow down and think it over.

Changes take time. The coffee bean meets the hot water, total opposites in form and color. The hot water changes color and taste by virtue of meeting the coffee bean. The coffee bean loses itself but becomes something greater. It becomes one with the water, a new being, creating something greater than itself.

Faces and Places come to mind, my dear father of blessed memory, how he loved a good up of coffee. I can picture him sitting with me and sipping his coffee while collecting his thoughts.  My brothers, may the living be separated from the deceased, all serous coffee drinkers. Coffee memories from around the world; Ukraine, Florida, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Milano, Italy, Jacobs coffee in Germany, special coffee in Thailand, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, Schamong coffee in Cologne, Germany. South Africa with Alan and Anthony and Tyler, with my friend JC in Zurich, and with Esther and Michal in Israel, with the gang on Tour and Train. Coffee with Itay in Jerusalem and with Giovanni in Brazil.  

Coffee, you have to relax.

With Krav Maga I often see beginning students who cannot relax, but ultimately to reach the highest levels in Krav Maga, you must relax, there is no other way; the flow, the rapid response comes from relaxation. (but do not worry, I am not saying that non coffee drinkers are not welcome, some of our best people do not drink coffee).

Krav Maga cannot be static, unchanging, like the coffee bean it enters the hottest water and changes everything, including itself. Krav Maga becomes new every day, changing flavor and color. 

Airports, the scenes of some of the worst attacks on innocent civilians; Lod Airport in Israel, LAX, Athens, Zurich....

We train in Krav Maga to be ready; to be ready to respond, to react, to live freely. So that no man shall walk in fear, so we can live on our own terms. So we can enjoy our cup of coffee.

People walking by, I watch them, each one with his/her luggage, each with his/her "baggage", fear, and concerns. Each one with the outfit they chose to showcase themselves to the world today, each one with hopes for a new day.

I am here to help make that a better day, a safer day, there are still so many dreams to be fulfilled.

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