Same Thing Change 
By Moshe Katz
CEO
Israeli Krav International

April 20, 2017, Amsterdam

Sitting here with a dear friend, from years past, and discussing some history, religion and language. The Dutch language, Nederlands, is actually the source of many American words, words that have no direct link to English. (As in the language spoken in England).

Many Biblical laws, like it or not, have been modified, adjusted and applied to meet modern needs. Things change. That is life. Nothing is constant. 

There is an old expression; you can never go home, which means you can never restore things to the way they once where. The only way to do so is to build a replica, make a movie, do a reenactment but it shall remain just that.

We love nostalgia, that is why we have time period movies, museums and archaeological sites.  But the fact is we must live in reality.

We must accept reality with all its challenges. We cannot hide the truth. We cannot pretend we live in a different time period. If we are adults we must live as adults, not as children, and this means facing reality square in the face. 

When the weather changes we must adapt or face the consequences. When the job market changes we must adjust our skills, perhaps take a course and acquire new skills. While we draw inspiration from the past we cannot live in the past and we cannot solve today's problems with yesterday's solutions.  This is true for life and for Krav Maga.

And yet we resist, we hesitate. We like our comfort zone, we do not like change. If we do what we have always done we will get what have always gotten, but if we are not happy with that, well, then we must change.

Perhaps as my dad said we need to "Take a new look at an old Book". Perhaps we need to take a new look at ourselves and ask, am I happy?

If not, well, what are we going to do about it? Are we going to keep doing the same thing? 

With our Krav Maga every day there is a slight improvement, adjustment, application and interpretation. It is in constant change as we do not remain static or dormant. The same must be true of our daily lives, unless we are totally content with the way things are now.

I am in Amsterdam and I am thinking of New Amsterdam, the city that eventually became known as New York, after the English conquest. Most Americans do not realize the huge impact the Dutch had on New York, the changes that they brought, the innovative way of thinking. Much of what New York is today is the product of some innovative Dutch people coming to a new land and experiment in freedom and tolerance. 

And now it is time for us to get busy living.