Belt Auction - Question for high karate belts (over purple belt)?

Question for high karate belts (over purple belt)?

Do you respect lower belts? Do you see them as "babies" or amateurs? One more question. Have any of you ever actually had to use you karate skills on someone?

Public Comments

Respect everyone, that is what karate teaches you.
It's been a while since my days in Karate, but I gave everyone my respect until they lost it. Many people in the dojo; however, get struck with some kind of superiority complex once they become a "Sempai". Those people are tools, so just try to ignore them politely. Only really ever used my karate in class.
Yes, I respect my kohai, they teach me as much as I teach them. They teach me patience, and they teach me how to teach, as well as you should respect them for coming into the dojo and training, what ever their reasons are. Now this isn't to say that there aren't students that I dislike...there are a couple of them...but I still show them respect. and actually used them, like in a real fight where some one is seriously trying to hurt me? no, but sparring w/ friends inside as well as outside the dojo, full contact yes, and it seems to work well for me.
if you want respect then you must give every one else respect. whether they are higher or low rank
l em a kyokushin karate green belt for about two years, and to be honest l haven't tried to get to next belt because l train mostly for kumite (matches) and l usually beat brown, sometimes even black belts, if l wanted l could easly get to brown belt, but l don't fell like l need to...... you should never underestimate anyone!!! (sorry for my spelling)
"Do you respect lower belts?" I respect them as people. I also understand that generally, they won't have the knowledge, skill, or experience as someone who's put in more time than them. That's not disrespectful, it's just an honest assessment. "Have any of you ever actually had to use you karate skills on someone?" No. Most of the occasional scraps I got into when I was younger called for a more grappling-oriented response, so I used stuff I learned outside of karate class. Although karate is a solid part of my MMA technique, but I'm pretty sure that's not what you meant.
I always treat everyone with the utmost respect. No mater their rank or age. I have had to defend myself a couple times. At our school you will face discipline for showing disrespect for low ranks or anyone else in or out of the school. If you don't like it find another school.
Everyone should respect anyone else. We should all start by respecting each other. Only if someone has proven that they do not deserve respect should that not be automatic. Here is another view of this concerning the proper attitude of respect in the martial arts, as in Bowing to others. I include this because many people are not taught why the bow is done. They are simply told that you bow to show respect. To understand the subject requires more explanation. OK here is what I was taught about bowing in the 1980's. I had always thought of bowing as a higher / lower thing. Almost as if we were expected to bow to Sensei because he was the big cheese. Sure respect was there but it still seemed off balance. Now I see it differently. The student bows to the instructor because he understands and respects him for the many years it took him to get to where he is. And because he respects the Sensei for sharing his knowledge. The Sensei bows to the student with equal respect. Sensei remembers how it was when he was a beginner. He understands the struggle both mental and physical. He remembers how confusing it was and how hard it was to get his body to perform each basic correctly. As such, he has great respect for anyone that is willing to go through the long process to becoming a competent martial artist. So the bowing is means to be on an equal level, not one of superior/inferior status. And yes, unfortunately I have had to use my training several times. But my training is why I'm still here.
Yes, I respect all ranks; there's no reason not to. Yes, I've been in fights and used what I know; although I would not phrase it as "using my karate skills on someone."
If you think purple belt is high and then look down on lower ranks as babies..haha...you are still an infant yourself. As many others said, you should automatically respect all others. There are a million reasons for this. Some have been pointed out already. Some have not. Maybe you should reflect on why respect is of utmost importance. And yes. I have used my skills. Many times.
Well, put it this way. (I'm not a high karate belt, in fact, I don't do karate, but I do Jeet Kune Do). There was a black belt in my class. He was an excellent fighter, well earned his belt, and could pretty much do anything, from any given posistion. Truly excellent. I, on the other hand, only had 6 months "under my belt", so to speak, and we were asked to do ground sparring, and I got paired with him. I was on my back, legs around his waist to cut off his advance. He put up a real fight to try to advance, but I held my ground, and he failed in gaining and advantaged posistion. Then the teacher asked us to switch places. With me on top, i managed to throw one leg across another, and mount him, which means sitting on his stomach. It's best possible posistion for you, worst possible posistion for them. Everyone was amazed, and he was truly humiliated. I heard him talking to his friend, and he said he was going to whoop me in two days, when practice was next. And in two days, I beat him again with the exact same trick. In terms of your second question, yes, 3 times. Once when I was finished a fight with another guy (in sport, of course. Cage matches, as people call them), he got mad, and wanted another fight, no holds barred system (Meaning anything goes), as I was walking home. I beat him even faster by simply blocking his tornado kick, because I lifted my knee. He slams his shin into my knee, and i punch him twice. He's out. Then another guy sees my wallet as I'm running. He hits me hard as I'm walking by. We exchange a few blows, and he throws a hook to my head. I throw my hand across to block his hook, and finger jab his eyes. Then there was a time three guys wanted me out. Basically, all I did was run away (because I knew them, and I was a far faster runner). They run after me. The fastest guy is close, and I keep running to make some distance between him and his buddies. As soon as there is enough distance, I deck him, and then let the other two catch up. I shove the smaller guy into the larger guy and pound both of them a couple times. and as Joe Rogan, the ufc commentor would say: "IT IS AAAAAAAAALL OVER!"
As a brown belt, I feel that I respect the lower grades, and I hope that they see it that way. Those that have trained for some time, are very skilled, and I learn much from training with them, sparring with them and things that they notice about my own practice. Those that haven't trained much, or aren't skilled yet, remind me of myself, both past, present and almost certainly future. The only difference between us is that I started training before them. I fully expect some of these people to excel beyond me, and I take great pride in training with these people. Babies? Certainly not. Amateurs? No more than myself. As for using my karate skills, I have been fortunate to never have been in a life-or-death scenario, or something that would required me to fight. I feel that my training has come out in my life, when a random drunk on the street tries to start a fight (has happened a couple of times, never led to anything, thankfully), and I'm able to stay composed, and not scared. When at work, I think I feel it when dealing with an angry or rude customer, I can stay confident enough to talk to them, in some cases I've calmed them down, in others, I've not been fazed by the abuse. And as strange as it may seem, I've found the hip rotations useful as a waiter, to negotiate between tightly packed tables.
Respect everyone, you might lose to a white belt some day. I rocked some brown and black belts when I was a yellow belt, but they didn't know I had been in another style before. Everyone starts at the bottom and you should never forget that.