The Crippler by Chris Leben

Author:Chris Leben
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2015-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

POTIONS

Hawaii worked for me. It was almost as if the gods designed the island and its people with the Crippler in mind. The climate seemed to feed my soul and help heal so many of the emotional wounds that I had incurred back on the mainland. There is spiritual energy in the rainforests and hills and volcanoes and oceans of Hawaii. Hawaiian people call it mana. They say a person can draw strength from the majestic natural environment of the islands. There really is something to this, if you ask me. Within a week of arriving, I felt as if I had been born again.

There is something special about the society as well. In my opinion, the Hawaiian people are among the most accepting and welcoming in the world. There are many who choose Hawaii as a home because it is the one place where they do not feel judged. It is the one place where they can pursue their uncommon lifestyles without having to worry the neighbors or the morality police or the actual police will unnecessarily interfere. In Hawaii I came into a sense of belonging I had never before experienced. My being a fighter helped because Hawaiian people tend to honor the powerful and fearless. There is a warrior culture on the islands. It dates back more than fifteen hundred years to the early settlement of the islands. Back then there were many battles between competing chieftains and their tribal koa warriors. These warriors were revered for their bravery. They fought in loincloths and covered themselves in tattoos to strike fear into their enemies.

As this was explained to me, my heart raced with a sense of connection to the mystic history of this tropical paradise. I began adorning my body with tattoos around the age of nineteen. Today there are very few spots on my body that are not covered in intense, colorful ink. So, obviously, the koa warrior body decoration tradition resonated with me. As I thought about myself in this warrior context, I began to develop a new purpose: to honor the Hawaiian ancestors through my fighting. And subsequently, the Hawaiian people responded to my dedication and my stubborn refusal to quit. In their eyes I was the epitome of a warrior who lived and died by the sword. Wherever I went, people knew who I was and treated me with respect. I was more of a celebrity the moment I stepped foot in Hawaii than I had been in my hometown of Portland. I used to say that my stock had split like Microsoft.

And then there were the ladies. Hawaiian women were exactly what the doctor ordered. I had always been a sucker for Asian features, which are everywhere there. On top of that, the women embody a mix of grace and free-spirited boldness I have found nowhere else in the world. The martial arts classes that I taught at Icon Fitness were filled with these goddesses. And, wouldn’t you know, many of them were digging my big-man status.

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