The Long Road
By Moshe Katz
CEO
Israeli Krav International 

February 27, 2015, Panama City, Panama 

Davenport, Florida, USA. Life takes its time, its own course.

The sun sets, trees grow, each at its own pace.

"It happens, that the road is longer, it happens, we must keep going, nothing is known, not a week, not a year, we must keep moving." (Arik Lavie)

We want it all and we want it now. We want it in our own timing. Nothing matters but the timing that we want.

We want to arrive on time, we want perfect timing, all in good time as long as the time suits us.

We must keep  moving even if things do not happen when we want them to. Our time?? Man plans and God laughs.

You want the business to blossom this year, you want your school to grow by 50% in the first year, you want your black belt when?

It happens that the road takes longer than you thought. You keep moving but somehow things still look distant.

In Israel we say, Lama - Kova. Why? Hat.

What does that mean? It means that we do not get the answers we want. Why? Hat. You do not understand the answer, I do not understand the question.

We learn not to ask.

When will it happen? At the end of the road. And the road is taking longer than we thought.

Love comes when we least expect it. Success...who knows. But we keep moving, we keep working. Why? Hat.

Sometimes the road seems to take longer than we planned. But who are we to plan? The future is always an unknown.

Students and instructors push for ranks, they want it now!

We want salvation now. We want to grow tall now. We want instant results. Why? Hat. It is not going to happen this way. And it happens that the road takes longer than we planned.

Active patience. We do what we can but we accept that things may take longer than we planned, than we hoped.

And the flower will blossom when it is ready, not a moment sooner.

You are the product of your work, not of what you received for nothing, not of what you begged for, or stole. Do not be jealous that someone else's road appears shorter, you never know how long they have been on it. And sometimes the journey takes longer than we planned.

Do not judge others until you have stood in their shoes, and no one can truly stand in another's shoes.

Never look at someone else's garden, other than to admire it. Never look in jealousy, nothing makes a person uglier than jealousy.

The chariots of Egypt sunk in the sea. Power is fleeting. Do not crave power, do not desire that which is not yours.

Your rank, your black belt will come when the time is right. Love will come when the time is right and each flower will blossom when its time has come, not a moment earlier.

But when it blossoms it will smell beautiful. "For the pomegranate tree has given its fragrance".

No fragrance comes from jealousy, only from hard work and patience.

And it happens that the road takes longer...

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