I have no panache, I have no sizzle!

I have no panache, I have no flash, I have no sizzle, am I a Martial Artist? If you have studied any grounded martial art for any length of time then you know what I mean. As I was watching Animal Planet's "Kung Fu: The Animal Within" I was struck once again with this feeling. It is a feeling of inadequacy, a small feeling mind you, but it is there none the less (consequently I also get this feeling whenever I watch a good MMA fight). The Kung Fu practitioners, for the most part, are beautiful performers. Their katas are almost poetic in nature. If the art's deadliness rivals their beauty then they truly are an art to be admired. But my art, my style, is lacking in this fluidity. Don't get me wrong, there are a few pretty moves, but overall it is a very utilitarian art form that I practice. Quick straight hand strikes and low kicks are the norm. Get in and get out quickly. Hard blocks, fast counters, combinations followed by combinations until the opponent is incapacitated. A throw or joint lock borrowed from Jujitsu every once in a while. An eye gouge, elbow, knee, choke hold or face scrape whenever necessary. Not pretty... but effective when used properly.

So, when a friend or family member attacks me in jest, or asks me to show them something, I am usually at a loss. My nephew is the worse at this, he is almost twice my weight and almost a half foot taller than me. Although I know I could stop someone his size in a real fight, it wouldn't be a pretty move that did it, it would be a brutal incapacitating combination of strikes that brought him down. Perhaps I am just jaded though, maybe the moves that I perform daily in my katas have just become too pedestrian for my eyes. Maybe the unaccustomed eye can still see beauty in the techniques and katas that I perform.