First in Line means Lots of Questions

In karate, there are so many different drills and activities that we have to do that it can be hard to keep up with what specific thing or things we have to do. On top of that the owner of the dojo my family and I do karate at (who is also the highest rank of course) is not the best at making the instructions clear and so sometimes can make myself and other students feel stupid if we do something wrong or not how he wanted things to be done. He usually explains these instructions as if all of his students are all on the same page as he is and that we understand what he is doing. He also sometimes messes up just like anyone might but he might not realize it so that in turn confuses everyone else. This is what makes our instructor’s personality unique but because of these things, it can be really hard to make it through a class sometimes without asking questions. It also makes it so that the setting of the dojo during classes is somewhat stressful sometimes because you do not want to mess up while the instructor is watching because then he might call you out on it in front of everybody and tell you what you need to do instead. In my opinion, there is really no such thing as a stupid question if you really do not know the answer but in these karate classes it can seem like a question you ask is stupid.

I remember a time a while ago in karate class when I had to ask a question. The class had started and we had done all the warm-ups which was perfectly fine, we had done our chart work which is basic techniques that we have to practice sometimes which I got through all of that just fine. However, once it got to be later in class we started doing some drills. Unfortunately I was the first one in line which meant I would have to go first to perform the drill. It also just so happened that the drills we were doing that particular class were extra challenging and not something we had done before. The owner of the dojo (our instructor) explained the drills to us but as usual, he kind of just expected us to be able to understand first time even though his directions were not all that clear. And then he set us loose to do the drill but because I was first I could not just look to see what everyone else was doing I had to do it first and of course I did not really know what I was supposed to be doing. The time had come that I always dread to ask him questions about what I was supposed to be doing. So, I timidly raised my hand and asked him if he could explain again what we were supposed to be doing and if he could show me. It was super embarrassing to ask in front of everybody and to have to ask several questions because it was such a challenging drill. Of course, when I intitially asked the question the instructor looked at me blankly as if asking me “what do you mean you do not understand?” However, he was able to answer my questions by helping through it and helping me understand it and I was able to successfully do the drill without messing up after asking these questions. However, I felt totally stupid having to ask these questions because it felt like it should have been totally obvious what I was supposed to be doing during the drill. The instructor even told me I did a “good job” after I was done which made me feel a whole lot better about myself.

I was very afraid that asking these questions would have made me look rude, inattentive, and foolish and I felt very foolish asking these questions. However, the outcome of having asked these questions was far greater than what would have probably happened had I not asked these questions. If I had not asked these questions, I would have had to attempt to do the drill in front of everybody and pretend that I knew what I was doing even though I really did not and I would have looked totally foolish having done the drill not at all how I was supposed to be doing it. The instructor really would have made some sort of a comment that I need to pay attention better or something along those lines had I done this. It also would have been in front of everybody, including our instructor and would have overall been a lot worse than asking the questions. Even though it did not feel great in the moment asking the questions it definitely benefited me to ask the questions.

In karate especially, things can be very difficult and it is super important to listen to directions but even then, questions do have to be asked sometimes. As it turned out, my instructor was perfectly willing to help me and asking the questions made all the difference. In the situation I was in, if I had not been the first in line, probably whoever was the first in line would have had to ask most of the same questions as I did anyways. It just did not seem like it when I was the one in line first. Most people, myself included, do not want to ask questions because they think it makes them look stupid in front of a class or whatever other setting a person is in and in front of whoever they are asking the question to. However, most instructors, teachers, and other people are perfectly willing to answer questions that somebody else may have. Even when you might be the only person that seemingly has a certain question, and even if you might think it is a stupid question you should still ask it because chances are, asking the question will benefit you a lot more than if you choose not to ask the question.

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