The inspirational speeches, the black belt promotions, the stories, the awards, the I Ho Chaun demos...
Whenever I witness these things I'm always just blown away with the incredible talent, commitment and dedication of everyone at Silent River. Immediately following the banquet, both kids decided they needed to practice their Kung Fu before heading to bed....so that itself shows the kind of inspiration this event can have. Emma's favourite moment was Sifu Rybak being promoted to 5th degree and becoming Master Rybak. Nathan continues to feel devastated for Sifu Lindstrom and his broken spear. Dan's was when he heard his song suggestion at the end of the IHC demo video. Lol.
Congratulations to Sifu Thomson, Sifu Estey, Sihing Kohut and Sihing Whitehouse-Strong for your incredible achievement. Congratulations to Master Rybak, Sifu Vantuil, Sifu Csillag, Sifu Lindstrom and Sifu Chervanka for your continued efforts to mastery. Congratulations to Sifu Ward on receiving Black Belt of the Year in his first year of being a Black Belt! And congratulations to all the Little Leopard, Tiny Tigers and Black Dragon Award recipients. You guys are our future leaders and I can't wait to see what you do.
The banquet was made even more special for me by being this years recipient of the the Travis Panasiuk Memorial Award. I know he held a special place at Silent River and it's an honour to have my name added to the amazing list of students that have received it before me. I hesitate to put a spotlight on myself, but I do want to take a moment to say Thankyou.
In addition to all of this, there were some other things I noticed that really made me proud to be a part of Silent River Kung Fu. As I looked at the tiny little mini-screens, I saw that many people had continued the tradition of Chinese food. Some had even decorated. There were people in uniform or that made a point of wearing something "SRKF". Many people had their whole family gathered and had created their own special "spin-off" event at home. Everyone clapped and cheered even though they couldn't be heard, and most likely not seen. What makes this special is that people didn't do these things to be recognized. They didn't do them because they were told to. They did them to show their support and to immerge themselves in the spirit of the event. They did them to make the main portions of the night just that much more special.
The little things do matter and they do make a difference. Let's keep doing them even if nobody is watching.
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