Covalent Bonding

Post date: Sep 03, 2011 11:42:29 PM

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Henry Ford

It’s been years since I was in a chemistry class, but I do remember a few things, probably just enough to stay out of trouble and be dangerous at the same time. One of the chemistry terms that came to mind yesterday was the “covalent bond”; this is a chemical bond where atoms share electrons; they have something in common that binds them, holds them, links them together. And so do we.

With the uncool, crazy amounts of rain we’ve had lately, it was bound to happen: the dojo flooded late Sunday night, early Monday morning. It wasn’t a little bit of water, no, I’m talking about enough to spread mud and grime across the entire space, all rooms, from front to back; enough water to move rugs and flow up, over and onto the raised training floor, and of course enough to soak into walls and raise mold and mildew colonies. I know it could have been worse, things can always be much worse, but this was downright ugly. And, quite smelly.

But, we pulled together. Students and parents who were there for Tuesday evening classes came in and asked what they could do to help. They bought buckets, mops, rags, disinfectant, and they brought in a shop-vac, fans, and lots of sweat and elbow grease, and before we knew it, the water had been removed, the muck cleared, and the place was re-transformed and smelling fresh and clean again, lookin’ all sparkly and neat again.

I am extremely blessed and very thankful and fortunate to be a part of such a great group of students and parents.

I do find it ironic, though, that days before this, I had been thinking of ways to help the group feel that this was not just my dojo, but theirstoo. Well, after what I saw last night, after I witnessed the actions that spoke louder than any words could have, I know that they feel that special covalent bond, that connection that goes beyond having just a nice place of our own to train.

Yes, they feel it too, and yes, that shared bond goes deep.

EDB

06.16.10