enemies, is not really your enemies in this saying. i believe they are saying that when your opponent has said that you are a good fighter, it is a stronger statement than when a friend says it. not really opponents you dislike. but there is healthy respect between fighters after they have fought, than before, because the questions is, i think i can beat him. martial artists usually feel their method is a better style. this is what they mean when they say, "i found MY truth". it is a polite way of saying "this is the best way to do it". in my opinion, that is what the martial artist will say when he doesnt want to back up his opinions. the good thing about the old masters, is that they say with confidence, no that does not work, let me show you why. if you are teaching a class, you should be able to prove your theories (not really theories after you prove them), and that is why i feel we need the practice of challenges (friendly or unfriendly), it keeps masters on their toes, that someone will ask them to proved it.
as for the grudges, they have them in boxing, all styles of the martial arts, even in slam poetry! it makes people work harder to become better than the next guy. i am not afraid of them, i enjoy them, as long as people are respectful and dont really try to hurt someone. i have rivals, even some people i do not like. its another reason for me to keep my game up. challenges are a strong part of martial art traditions. they give birth to new arts, styles, and branches of styles. this is why arnis stickfighting is so advanced over kung fu stick, karate stick fighting. this is why we do not have forms, still stances, and why we practice with power. we found out many generations ago that there is a better way to train for fighting, while some styles are still doing cartwheels with there sticks. we have the old rivalries and challenge matches to thank for that. and believe me, stickfighters will get better in the future. i believe that what saved respect for western FMA is groups like dog brothers and the hawaii fc groups, filipinos at home have to stay with tradition, before the foreigners are the ones to show us how its done.
for religion, i wasnt really talking religion. i was talking about how everyone wants to "get along" and promote each other. thats fine for some people. but i keep my art to myself, and i mix it up with other artists when i can. it keeps my reputation and my confidence, and allows me to give my students advantage over other martial artists that we are unique. i do have friends, but only a few. i believe many martial artist (arnisadors too) fell safety in the number of their friends. i find that the most dangerous are the ones who stay to himself. i have the mosque to socialize. the tournament and sparring sessions is the testing place for our people.
my observation, is that many FMA people build there martial art careers and reputations by the people they mingle with. if you go to lots of the seminars and gatherings, you met people who will say good things about you. they host each other for seminars, they speak up for each other in the internet forms. and when one of them who is unworthy to call himself "master" or "authority of FMA", no one pulls him to the side, to say, you cant do that. or, you're wrong. some people will go his whole career without even one fight, except advertisements saying he was a cop or military, or even more funny, "numerous streetfighting experience". this is not how the arnis master gets known. some of you know, if you call yourself eskrima expert, you better be ready to prove it, because somebody will want to see what your made of. this doesnt happen in seminar community. look at when Grandmaster Presas dies. some guys come out, and say he is a grandmaster too. nobody called him to his face. why? he puts his schedule in the magazine every month? he is easy to find. another lady, is a brown belter in 1999, and now its 2006 and she is already 6th degree! i had my first black belt fight in 1985, and i dont call myself 6th degree...now on the other hand, we have wing chun. william cheung was saying leung ting doesnt know wing chun. his students, emin botzepe, shows up to kick his ***. nobody won the fight really, but guess what william cheung stoped running his mouth and now he is respectful. it is either, fear, or earned respect. if our arnis masters preserved some of the practice of challenging each other (not just fighting, but even challenging with words, and in person), we would not have people running around making claims and false resumes, rename presas art and call it his own, or whatever.
back to the original topic, people say FMA looks the same, because it does. very few people have arts so deep it looks unique. most people do the same drills, same techniques and "pormas", etc, and no one can tell you how his art is different in fighting, and almost no one will show you.
