What’s the “weekly mettle maker?”
The weekly mettle maker is a weekly blog post that contains training ideas, information, and fun facts related to Heritage Arts’ programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Heritage Wildwood nature appreciation and survival training, Heritage Fitness, and Heritage Spirit (YouTube church). It’s been around for over 5 years — although we didn’t start numbering them until May of 2018!
Mettle Maker #318
Self-defense: Above you will find some pics from Rough ‘n’ Tumble Boot Camp 2022. What a weekend! Hatmaker’s Plains Indian knife material was the most challenging and controversial. The phrase is over-used, but in this case it is perfectly true and apt, so I have to use it: it is paradigm-shattering. It invalidated a ton of my work in this area. Want to learn it? Come out the club here in Richmond VA or sign up for our free distance learning program here.
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Fitness: Instead of more volume and the wear-and-tear on your body that go with it, give some serious thought to doing fewer, slower reps of more challenging exercises. Right now, as part of my stone-lifting regimen, I’m in pursuit of my first Dragon Flag, and I’m working towards my goal of 3 x 8 perfect Pull-ups — nice, slow, dead-hang ones mind you, not those ridiculous kipping ones. After that, a Muscle-up. I know I talk about calisthenics a lot. But that’s because calisthenics are to fitness as wrenches are to auto repair. You can do it without them, but it’s way harder. Want help designing a fitness program that suits your needs? Sign up for our free distance learning program.
The Imperial Moth, Eacles imperialis (huge, about the size of my hand)
Wildwood. Keep your eyes open and pay attention to the real world — put the damn phone down! — and you’ll notice “nature” every moment you are awake. Edible plants spring up in asphalt fissures, Goosefoot loves sidewalk cracks and all the chinks in city stones, at night black bear and coyotes prowl suburban yards, and so on. Nature is everywhere. Here’s a picture of an Imperial Moth, Eacles imperialis, that I spotted on a building a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful, insn’t he? Or she. I’m not good at sexing moths.
Want to learn more about outdoor skills and how to appreciate the natural world? Sign up for our free Wildwood distance learning program.
22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, August 28th, 2022
Readings: Sir 3:17-18, 20, 28-29, Ps 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11, Heb 12:18-19, 22-24a, Lk 14:1, 7-14
Luke 14:1, 7-14 World English Bible Catholic Edition
When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him. 7
He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them, 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him, 9 and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
12 He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back. 13 But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; 14 and you will be blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”
Brothers and sisters it's very hard to be humble when all day long, almost every message you receive from the culture, from the television, the internet, and social media says you should sing your own praises. “If you don't toot your own horn there will be no music.” “Do your own thing.” “Be your own person.” “Live your best life” (as if there was more than one) and “Be your authentic self” (as if your authentic self wasn’t a very childish self, desiring delicious food, fancy toys, and a life without homework, chores, and responsibilities).
The Book of Sirach says, “water quenches a flaming fire.” I wonder though, why would you want to quench the flame of your pride? I mean, it's fun isn't it? It’s great to enjoy the first seat at the table, am I right? It’s fun to flaunt your trophies and certificates. It's perfectly natural to show off the things you bought with your hard-earned cash. You earned them, right? You worked hard for them didn't you?
Or did you?
Isn’t it possible that you have them because others care deeply about you and taught you the skills and techniques you used to earn that trophy, award, or money? Isn’t it possible that you owe a debt of gratitude to others, maybe even some who have passed on, like your deceased parents or grandparents, or to a beloved mentor, coach, teacher, or bishop? Or maybe you owe your success to something you learned from a book whose author is long dead. Perhaps you owe something to the college where you earned your degree. Or to your family and friends, the ones who supported you physically and/or emotionally while you were struggling. There may even be some people you’ve forgotten that you owe because, when they gave you hard criticism, you preferred to part ways, only to realize later that they were right and you were wrong.
If you think hard about who deserves the credit for your successes, and if you take the time to cut up the pie of credit and serve it up, you may well find only a very small sliver left for yourself. And maybe that last, tiny serving is attributable to good fortune. It’s almost as if one might say, “to God alone be the glory.”
You might also ask yourself these sorts of questions when you are not doing well, or when those around you are failing. How much of your failure are you blaming on others? How many of the failures that surround you are attributable to your poor leadership or your poor example? Things at first blush or not always what they seem.
When you are feeling down, often this is because you’ve subconsciously realized that you are at fault for something. The good news is that, as we read in Sirach, “alms atone for sins.” Bake a cake for the family next door, or casserole for the elderly widow down the block. Visit a sick relative or friend. Volunteer your time for a charity. Don't just write a check or click a box on the internet. Physically do something, that’s better. Clean out your attic and donate the goods to a charity. Go through your kitchen, pull out the best, most expensive and yummy stuff, and donate it to the food drive (not the old, expired stuff like you usually do). Physical demonstrations of sacrifice and almsgiving are uplifting because they are real. Think about it this way. Maybe the person you are helping had something to do with your success. God’s ways are a mystery.
You never know.