Untitled Document

Director's Commentary:

There are perhaps three types of individuals that will find their way into the BKH dormitory program.

First, there are those who want to learn karate and be the best who, at the same time, have some realistic conception of the fact that being the best means lots and lots of hard work and personal sacrifice. Whether or not this type will make it in the BKH dormitory program depends on the extent of their desire. If they want it bad enough to endure the associated suffering, being at least the best they can be is right here waiting for them. If they can muster the desire, it will just be a matter of time.

Second, there are dreamers who also want to learn karate (because it's cool) and who also want to be the best (because that's even cooler), but who have not contemplated the fact that being the best means a great deal of personal hardship. Of course this type might get here and wake up and smell the coffee to that reality, but whether or not they stick it out will depends on whether or not they have the heart for it. And as a warning to those of this type who will come: It'll take every bit of the heart the strongest of us have to make even past the shock of that initial realization. The best way you can prepare? Make yourself understand that there's no "magic pill" to strength and proficiency. If you want it, it's here . . . but you're going to have to fight for it and the odds are against you.

Finally, there is the type who will enter the BKH program out of desperation to repair their otherwise broken life, those who, for whatever reason, are not content either with themselves or with what they've managed to do with their lives. Our Mr. Schwartz, the subject of this interview, is of this type. He's spent a lot of years wasting his life away, doing drugs . . . and doing crimes. He came here because he wants to succeed so badly at something and do something productive for the first time in his life that he's desperate enough to try such an extreme means of getting there. For this type, the BKH dormitory program definitely offers the answer. Whether or not this type makes it? Again that depends on the individual, their desperation, their desire, their willpower. To make it means that they'll be able to do whatever they want to do with their lives beyond the program. In fact, it is this type that is likely to become the strongest if they can muster what it takes to make it . . . but then again, the odds are not too good.

Q: What led you, Mr. Schwartz, to enter a three-year residential karate program in which you have to give up so many of the freedoms and comforts that most of us take for granted?

A: What led me to come into a three-year program . . . I'd have to say that I was sick of my life, sick with failing at a lot of things, and wanting to do something with my life in a productive way. First of all, I was figuring that I still have my youth and I have only so long I can do something athletic . . . and second of all it's something that can . . . through which I can become part of changing other people's lives. And I don't see myself being able to do that in a world dominated by corporate business. And I think that karate is a way to remain low key and remain . . . simple.

Q: You say that you were "sick of your life" can you expound on that a little bit?

A: I was sick of . . . of what I've done with my life between . . . making bad decisions . . . A, not going to school, B, running with the wrong crowd and getting myself into trouble with the law, and C, using drugs . . . I was sick of just doing nothing with my day to day life, just simply for a long time worrying about money being the number one object of my life. Just sick of always stepping on other people . . . and stepping on myself in the process.

Q: And how did you find out about the BKH program?

A: I found out about the BKH program through a magazine . . . I can't recall the name . . . my dad showed it to me, and I looked it up on the Internet, and from there I just sent off my application fee, and here I am. I remember that the first time I read the classified ad in that magazine I said to myself, "this is for me! This is what I need to do!"

Interview Page One