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When I told some of my friends that I intended to put up a “Thank You” page on my site, so as to express my gratitude to all the wonderful martial artists who have been communicating with me since my e book went active, the responses varied from “you’re strange” to “why bother”.
Since I’m fairly hardheaded and tend to do what I think is right, irrespective of well-meaning advice, I’m going ahead anyway.
Allow me to provide a bit of background here. When Piper first went online and announced its existence to the world, responses varied. They still do, it’s natural that they would, given that all that people can see are a few short clips on You Tube.
When I wrote the book I had no idea what sort of response I would be getting. My basic position was simply that we had something of value and wanted to share it with the world. Piper can save lives and, in so doing, cause a bit of pain and suffering to the predators and this, I believe, is a good thing. It’s also slightly ironic, given its origins.
Initially I was expecting a landslide of negative criticism in response to the admittedly cheesy sales page (which I had a lot of fun writing, though) and consoled myself with the thought that when you boiled away all the marketing “blah-blah”, what was left was still essentially the truth. Also, I believe there’s nothing wrong with slightly “over-the-top” marketing, as long as the actions people take as a result benefit their lives.
As a professional in the field of martial arts and massage therapy, I use my knowledge and abilities to make a living. In doing so, I endeavor to provide something of value at a fair price.
Things did not quite turn out as I had expected them to, though. What I received was a minor landslide of engaged, thoughtful responses from people who took the trouble to actually read the book, think about it and, in many cases, practice the techniques shown.
Why this surprises me is because research has shown that a great number of people buy books on the basis that they might come in useful one day, or that owning the book and putting it on one’s bookshelf is in itself enough to lead to an improvement in one’s life, in the case of self-help books, for example. As an author, any sale is obviously a good thing, but, if that is all, it’s a barren, dry pleasure one experiences.
I’ve sold you something that I believe to be really useful and valuable and also easy to learn. What you do with it is obviously your business. If you just put it in storage though, the process of communication and learning between you and me ends right there.
Well, that’s not what happened and that’s why you are reading this page. Imagine my happy surprise when I realized that many of my readers were actually working on the techniques. This became clear from the many questions I got from you. I’m totally overwhelmed…this is wonderful!
The function of a teacher is to teach. I was a high school teacher in the early eighties and stopped only because the subject matter (mostly grammar) bored me to tears. To teach something meaningful, though…and to have you actually learning it…what a pleasure!
Those of you who are yourself teachers will know what I mean.
It means that Piper is alive, it’s filtering out into the world and potentially making a difference and this is great. So for that, thank you, everyone!!
A further thanks to those practitioners and teachers with whom I have been able to engage in dialog and discussion. I am learning as much from you as you are hopefully learning from me. Stranded at one of the geographical “far away places” of the world, I have sometimes felt a sense of isolation, surrounded as I am by traditionalists, MMA sportsmen and the occasional group of ninja grandmasters in camouflage pants.
You have made me feel a sense of community, a connection, and this has revitalized my own practice and growth process. For that also, a big “thank you”.
Finally, to all those of you who have told others about Piper or about the e book, a heartfelt “thank you” as well!
As the expression goes, I have a lot to be thankful for, especially in light of the above.
In closing, also given the above, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please send them my way, you are not bothering me at all, it validates what I do and I look forward to getting them.
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