The Modern Warrior

The warrior’s spirit transcends our perceptions and experiences of life. The warrior’s spirit is one that chooses, and does not operate by default. The warrior spirit is willing to take a risk and not be afraid of being wrong. As a Warrior, you will learn to accept failures as well as victories. As a true warrior, you must learn to accept and motivate others. The warrior is a person who chooses to think positively, in a progressive way, and with empowering thoughts.

The Maasai warriors’ lives and those of their ancestors, before hunting was banned in Kenya, brought this logic to me alive. These men hunted lions for fun or as an act of bravery and manhood. Over the years, they hunted lions as a hobby or to show their manhood and bravery. The government then issued a warning, imposed a penalty and offered an incentive to the warriors found guilty. The warriors were encouraged to help preserve the lions by donating their land for conservation. They received a fee based on the amount of land they donated. We have to be warriors, who recognize and reject the little negative voices inside us telling us we can’t do certain things. It is important that we become warriors, who do not kill lions for the sake of showing our bravery or manhood. Instead, we work to change ourselves and eliminate the voices within that are preventing us from achieving the full power of what we can be as a group and a generation. The type of warriors that move away from I to We as the name suggests. The ability to empower others is much more powerful than trying to win an individual award or prize. You can go fast by yourself, but you will go further if there are many people behind or beside you. Modern warriors realize that they can’t survive alone. Somebody said it and you couldn’t be more in agreement. You can achieve a lot as an individual and as a whole, as you will see.

I would like to tell you about the Maasai lion hunting. The hunts were conducted at very specific moments in the Maasai’s lives. This was when they entered adulthood. The young warriors went out in a huge group after months of training and honing warrior skills. They would only go on the hunt for lions with the permission of their elder trainers. The warriors would be dressed in beautiful cowhide outfits that look like miniskirts. They will also have Maasai wristbands across their chests. Their entire body is painted red, made from soil taken from ant hills. You will be scared to death when you see one. They are dressed like aliens, and they scare even the strongest lions. A jingle-bell would be attached to their thighs and they would keep it there until they found a lion. Now you understand why there was such a rapid decline in numbers. They would then open the bells on their legs to alert others and lure the lion into the center of the warrior circle. Slowly they moved forward, gaining enough distance to stab the lion. No matter if it killed the animal or not, whoever threw a spear that hit and injured the beast was deemed the lion killer. First prize would go to that warrior. The second person who threw the ball will be awarded with the tail.

Maasai warsmen are known for being amongst Africa’s most fearsome warriors. They knew, however, that they should not approach or kill lions on their own. It was a formidable group that did this. The fact is that as an lone individual, you are limited in what you can achieve. In a group or team setting, however, the possibilities for success are endless. It is said in African that unity brings strength while divisions bring weakness. True warriors have the spirit of unity and are not afraid to stand up for others. You will hear the other side of the story about the warrior, a person who turns their back on a lion while hunting.

Growing up next to my grandmother, who was a tough woman and had endured a lot of hardships in her life, was very difficult but also interesting. I learned countless things from this lady. My gran had to deal with many hardships throughout her life. She was second-wife and compared to her first wife, she was considerably younger. It was so bad that they were forced to separate their families because of the animosity. The animosity was heightened by the fact that my grandmother’s children had the highest grades in school. She was left with 11 kids, many of whom did not finish school. It was a big challenge, but she didn’t give up. She was my strongest friend and she always fought to make sure she carried on her husband’s legacy by educating every child. This was her only weapon to fight her co-wife after her husband’s death who wanted the entire land divided amongst herself without consideration for the other family. She knew that education was the key to ensuring her daughters and sons a prosperous future. She worked long hours in her retail shop. Her main source of income was farming, which she used to school her family and provide them with clothing and food.

As a farmer with years of experience, my gran would remind me periodically that weeds wouldn’t grow on our farm because the soil was not disturbed. I asked my gran one day what she meant when she said that the soil needed to be disturbed. After harvesting, the soil remains untouched until the following planting season. The soil will remain undisturbed until the next planting season, when the farmers will then do something. This would mean that the farmer would have to go hungry.

My grandma taught me a valuable lesson. I am so used to doing certain things, that I often fail to realize the impact. It’s like messing up soil and disrupting normal operations. The routine is broken and a new plan is created. It’s the willingness to let go of what we already know in order to make room for new things, just as yoga teachers have been teaching us over many years. Every advancement must include some adjustments, and wherever there are adjustments there must also be a change. Change will always happen, no matter what. My grandma used to say that if you don’t till your land, nothing but useless weeds grow. If we do not change our thinking, we can get stuck in the past. History can inform us, but being stuck in it is something else. Our stories are based on our past, and they may be biased or flawed depending on how we feel at the time. The present is the perfect time to change our interpretations of past events. It is clear that we can’t rely solely on history for our present decisions, unless current data is taken into account. It is not possible to get the same bumper crop as last year unless you mix it up, disturb it, and disrupt it.