touching people 
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL

July 15, 2021 Florida - Israel

Inspiration can come at any moment. I recall walking down the street and I heard someone call out my name. It was a young woman, she had been my student for many years as a little girl. She had her share of challenges. At a certain point she quit, no explanation. and then, many years later, she is married with five children and she sees me on the street and calls out my name. She wants to tell me how much of an impact I had on her life, how I gave her confidence, how the dojo was the only place she felt good about herself, how I was her role model and how she is using these lessons to raise her children.

It took many years since she stopped showing up, with not a word of explanation. Nice to get the feedback, nice to know one had an impact. Sadly we instructors suffer a great deal; students discontinue their training and we wonder, what did we do wrong? (Usually, nothing, such is life).

So I am in Florida, going out for coffee with IKI instructor, Black Belt, John Liptak. We both have our IKI Krav Maga T shirts on. We sit down, my back is to the waitress. She walks up and becomes very animated, very excited. She starts speaking to us; do you do Krav Maga? My husband trained in Krav Maga, he gave him so much, it added so much to his life, it enriched him.

At this point, I am just nodding, it is probably a different form of Krav Maga, one of those commercialized styles with overly complicated techniques that I totally reject, but I am being nice, and polite.

Then she says, it was a guy in the Emerald Coast, 

and I am thinking, that is where Joe Cayer teaches, one of our finest instructors, darn, this woman's husbands' teacher was probably Joe's competitor. But I am still being polite.

And then she says, his name was Joe Cayer, wonderful man. And John and I smile. 

John says, this is Moshe Katz, our head instructor on a visit from Israel. We have a wonderful conversation and then when it is time to pay the bill, there is no bill, just a smile. 

Yes, this is a true story, and when things get dark it is these kinds of experiences that remind me to keep going. Yes, we will all face disappointment, we all suddenly have the ice collapse from underneath our feet when we were certain our ice was solid, we all get hurt. And then it is important to remember these stories, how a random waitress in a coffee shop in Florida tells us how our Krav Maga, via one of our students/instructors, impacted her late husbands' life. Yes, that feels good, and that brightens the dark times. 

Remember, we are making a difference in people's lives, every day.

IKI in Florida with instructors John Liptak and Joe Cayer.