An interesting thing happened to me the other day after writing my blog.

An interesting thing happened to me the other day after writing my blog.

You are not going to believe it!?

So I have been writing articles for over 30 years, for many different publications throughout many different industries. I have written for MAIA – Martial Arts Industry Association, NAPMA – National Association of Professional Martial Arts,  Karate International Magazine, Action Martial Arts Magazine, and Night life magazine, to name a few.  I have published my poetry and even have helped others write by being a ghost writer all while  publishing 5 books and being featured in three others by prominent authors.  While doing this I have contributed to Members Solutions, Napma’s blogs and websites.  Like my mom said I have the gift of Gab.   

Today, a prominent martial artist, reached out to me about the re-release of one of my most widely read articles ever.   At first I was unsure if the individual was joking with me as they insinuated that I stole the article from them. Well, at first they said “glad I was able to help you write your article.”  Immediately I was unsure whether they were making a joke or just messing with me.  After I inquired they expressed that they were quite serious.  Then they sent me the link to their article published within the last few months on their blog.  When I read it I was astounded at the similarities of the article.  There were punctuation and grammatical things that followed my exact copy.  It was almost word for word in many sections. I like to live by the live and let live mentality and to be honest over the years, follow the principle that there are no coincidences in life.  I then received a few snide remarks and hecklers on my posts on facebook that posted links to his article saying, “Hmmmm, looks like I read this before.”  They also were insinuating that I stole it.  

   

After telling the writer that I had written this article over a decade ago, and published it many times on the internet and had slightly altered it this time, they fired back immediately that the right thing to do, was to retract my article because obviously I read their article and changed mine because of theirs.  This wasn’t true at all. In fact, I never read their article at all.  I strategically wanted to be sure that they told me when they wrote their article and they told me it was only about 5 months old.  I stressed that my article was written over a decade ago and has been in circulation for over a decade.  This didn’t seem to matter to them.  They insinuated that I should be honorable and take it down.  

I had to prove my point, I was not a thief and was the original writer of the material in question and it was not at all influenced by him, unless I owned a time machine.  Although at times, our subconscious mind works without us even knowing.  I knew I wrote the article and I was not worried, because it has been published many times in many magazines, on different industry blogs for martial art school owner.  My bet proof was that I wrote and published this in 2011 and then again as far back as 2013 on Facebook.  I just had to find the link.  So I searched high and low, and low and behold I found it after an hour and a half.  When I showed it to the martial artist, he gracefully apologizing and changed his perspective.  I knew this individual would handle it like a true martial artist, they even made an edit on their blog.  However, I find it so interesting that we actually almost word for word, wrote the exact same article.

 

What I think is most interesting, is how at times things look totally different than they actually are.  Maybe this individual read my article years ago and forgot about it although they say they didn’t.  Maybe our business of running a martial art school is so strangely similar that this situation could happen to him almost exactly.  I believe in the laws of attraction and the thought of the “Spontaneous Fullfillment of Desire.”  So maybe when he put pen to paper, it all came out in their article.  The similarities of the article they wrote were uncanny, even down to the punctuation.  However, I believe that it was possibly coincidental due to the extremely unique way we think.  We as martial art schools go through the exact same things, but may live on opposite sides of the world.  It is so amazing, when I speak to a school owner in Germany, England or Australia and they tell me the exact same story or situation on the opposite side of the planet.  The one thing is we have to realize that we are living the same lives, have the same desires, and same struggles in life all over the world.  We should realize that the world is such a small place and we have to live with the understanding that every action we take and every reaction others take are all interconnected.

     

In any event, I am glad that this article has been really going viral and I am honored that people are enjoying it.  I hope that between this other individual and I, we have made a difference in people’s lives.  I think, this planet needs more people like him and with me helping spreading the positive message of love, light, commitment and martial arts.  I am still on my journey of helping others.  I hope you will join me. Please leave your comments below. I would love to hear your opinion and from you.