“YELLOW IS THE SYMBOL OF THE FIRST RAYS OF THE SUN SHINING ON THE SEED. YELLOW CAN ALSO SYMBOLIZE THE EARTH, IN WHICH THE SEED SENDS ITS ROOTS FOR NOURISHMENT. A STUDENT EARNS A YELLOW SASH BY ALLOWING HIS MIND TO BE OPENED TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS INSTRUCTORS.”
~GWEN BRUNO, LIVESTRONG.COM
Sarcasm is a big part of my life; it was for many years a main line of defense against people who might hurt me. I’ve managed it over the years so that, for example, I try not to use it against my kids, but it still pops up from time to time if someone says something I consider particularly stupid.
One of the few times I was ever scolded—in my entire life, actually, because I was a rule-follower—was in karate one night when I was a lower belt and hadn’t yet quite learned all the rules. Or learned to control my sarcasm, for that matter. The instructor—a child, as far as I could tell, and probably eighteen years old to my thirty—was a stern, no-nonsense young man who seemed to enjoy his role as master over us a little too thoroughly. I quietly shared my suspicion with my warm-up partner, but not quietly enough; the instructor came over and said, “I don’t want to hear your voice again today.”
He didn’t hear it for weeks, if I recall correctly. But he remains in my memory as the first person brave enough to tell me to listen instead of talk.