A Dojo To Come Home To
What is a dojo? Is it a community you belong to? Or is it simply a store where you purchase a product?
These characters represent “a place to study the way”…not “aikido store.”
This is an important distinction every day, but even more so during the current pandemic crisis.
First consider that monthly dues amounting to little more than $3 per day are nothing in comparison to what you are given by your teachers. Literally decades upon decades of dedicated training in aikido…all of which is being shared with you by some of the most senior teachers in aikido. And they do it as unpaid volunteers. There is no amount of money which can truly represent the love and community which goes into being a member of an aikido dojo. It is not simply a retailer of aikido lessons, but a home for your aikido practice.
During this pandemic, Aikido of Cincinnati has already drastically reduced our class schedule and adapted training to weapons-only in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines…and we may face even greater restrictions before things get better. So as the crisis goes on, it may be tempting to resign and stop dues payments. It may be tempting to say, “Well, if I can’t train, I don’t want to pay. I’ll just drop my membership for now…I’ll be back when this is over.”
Just as we see encouragement in the media to support local businesses so that they may survive closures and restrictions stemming from the coronavirus outbreak, I would encourage you to continue your financial support of Aikido of Cincinnati (or anywhere you may train). Your membership dues are essential to pay the mortgage and keep the lights on at all times…not just when you are able to train. If you treat the dojo as nothing more than a store where you buy aikido lessons and cut out your dues payment until the crisis is over…you may find that you have no dojo to come home to.
