A Chinese proverb asks, “When is the best time to plant a tree?”  The response is...”Twenty Years Ago.”  This might seem like a glib answer, but it is a very profound one.  It points out the truth that we rarely do things with foresight.  Parents might do well to raise their child with foresight, looking to how their child will be as an adult.  Will they be weak or strong?  Will we develop respectful or arrogant children?  Will they grow into disciplined or undisciplined adults?  Will they be emotionally strong or emotionally weak?  Will our child be mentally tough or mentally fragile?  Will our child be empowered…or disempowered?  More importantly,  will our child be able to defend themselves?  All of these factors are within our power to shape and mold, if we but do so early enough in the life of our children to make a difference.  It is easy to develop hindsight.  There is an old saying suggesting that hindsight is always 20/20.  Learning self defense skills would seem essential to Hannah Graham.  But it is sadly too late for that.  She did not have them when she needed them, and is now missing and presumed dead.  Had this young woman trained, perhaps she would have had the presence of mind to avoid the circumstances that led to her attack.  Or, she might have possessed the skills to fight off her attacker.  Often the willingness to fight off an attacker is all it takes.  Most attackers are not looking for a fight, they are looking for a victim.  To protect ourselves we must acquire the skills to fight.  There are parents at Warrior Spirit Martial Arts Academy who have foresight.  They invested in their child eight years ago when he was but six.  the payoff for them is almost here.  He is now 14 and an outstanding young Black Sash.  He carries himself as if he were an adult, and many parents ask if he in his 20s.  I love to watch their reaction as I tell them his true age.  It is simply unbelievable that such a young person is so mature.  Is it likely that he will fall prey to the peer pressure, negativity, and temptations that beset most young people his age?  Not very likely in my opinion.  His parents have such foresight that they have now started their two young daughters in our program with predictable results.  They are already martial arts champions at the ripe old age of 6 and 5.  They began training two years ago.  It is hard to imagine these two girls being unable to defend themselves if they continue to train.  Another set of parents had the foresight to enroll their daughter in our program at 6.  She is now 17.  She will shortly test for her 2nd Level Black Sash.  And she is an outstanding one.  She is extremely capable in self defense.  She is self confident and disciplined.  She is goal oriented and persevering in attaining them.  There is no time like the present to have young people train!  Adults might need self defense skills...which they do not have because they lacked the foresight to train for them so that they were there when needed.  So when should an adult start training?  Right now!  There is no point in putting it off.  The point of foresight is to anticipate the future.  This might seem difficult, but it really is not.  If a student, or the parent of a student, would like to develop self mastery, then they might train for it and develop it one step at a time.  There is an old saying that applies here.  “How do you eat an elephant?” the saying asks.  The response is...”one bite at a time.”  Both parables speak to perseverance.  If the tree dies then it does not matter that we planted it.  If your desire to master yourself dies, then having started the journey, you failed to complete it.  Will this bode well for the tree if it succumbs to the elements?  Will becoming a quitter enhance your character?  Why is the best time to plant a tree twenty years ago?  Because it requires twenty years to develop the sapling into a full grown mature tree.  Time is the great nurturer of trees and men.  As you train in the martial way of Wu Shen Pai, you will continue to move forward on the path of personal mastery.  Just as it takes time to nurture a tree, it also takes time to develop a Wu Shen Pai Black Sash.  To paraphrase we might ask the question differently.  When is the best time to start on the path to self mastery and personal development?  Five years ago.