Master Guy Lai
My dear Guy, or should I say, Master Guy – my Big Brother,
It has been more than a year since you set off on this new Journey, the one that leads to the Eternal East.
Perhaps there is another Orient after this one, but while many speculate about the eternal Orient, none, to my knowledge, discuss what comes after...
“Life is a journey, not a destination” - Confucius.
I, without pretension and without certainty, having no knowledge, am certain that what is just after this great Gate, that of the eternal Orient, is different depending on what we have done or not done during the previous Journeys.
Likewise, " you reap what you sow " - Lao Tzu, and the Harvest of what was sown before, is not done only by the sower, but also by his first circles, whether it is his Family, Friends, Students and Colleagues, or in general Society.
My Big Brother Guy Lai, You, I am convinced, these two Harvests, the first carried out by your care, and the other for what you leave behind You, are beautiful, with fleshy and delicious fruits, which, even before having tasted them, call for respect and amaze our eyes.
" The greatness of a man is in his decision to be stronger than his condition " - Albert Camus -
I am one of those who have harvested these fruits (fruits of Your harvest) and still enjoy their taste.
We met through our Guillaume and Mickaël. From those first days, a long and beautiful friendship developed, timidly through our martial attitudes, or rather slowly but surely, consolidating the foundations every day. Our very different backgrounds, but anchored in the same values and Martial Arts, allowed us to cultivate this friendship nourished by our differences, always with respect and mutual assistance.
You, the recognized Karateka, with your Samurai School, you opened the doors of your Karate Club for me to teach Kung Fu, something that few would have done… Many hiding their fear or their mediocrity behind virtual barriers of differences between styles or martial families. But this act was natural for You, and you have been, from the beginning and until now, an example of openness, always working for the general interest and more particularly for Martial Arts, never a single style or a single practice, and without any dogmatism.
I can't name them all, but many will recognize themselves, like me, helped by this Big Brother, opening his Club so that a younger one could teach. I am one of them, practitioners of Muay Thai Boxing, Taekwondo... Others have been helped and supported by you, because you took charge of their sports associations, their presidency...
In short, Martial Arts in general, and Karate in particular, will keep an indelible trace of your passage and of these beautiful things accomplished, My Guyguy.
" The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes ."
- Marcel Proust -
In Martial Arts Schools, Clubs and Halls, you are recognized and respected, but also in the city.
Indeed, those who know you know it, and there are many of us, even when the doors of night establishments were flying under explosive charges (Lyon), or were machine-gunned, you were the rare one, with your companion, our big Sister Christiane, to hold your establishments, respectively.
Courage, but also intelligence in the management of these functions, allowed you to last a long time, which few people can claim, having run night establishments and made the "door" for decades, not a few months or one or two years.
On this same theme, you were the initiator, then the one who managed an approach to securing the Saône quays, to avoid "racketeering" and the acts of thugs large and small, even if You did not directly need this, being recognized and respected by all. Indeed, it was You who, one day, suggested that I think about a general approach to managing the security of the ten or so night establishments on the Saône quays, and who then brought together all these different bosses, with equally different interests. You who had no need at all for this security approach and help. And it worked for several years, with concrete results - Everyone still recognizes it today.
" There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path ."
- Lao Tzu.
What memories, still today, on my return to Paris, those moments at your side, at your door, benefiting from your advice and your ear, always attentive and benevolent. I, who am not a "night man", generally sleeping at the hours of the hens, I stayed at your side, until you left with Christiane, in your little white car... because I had learned to benefit from your advice and opinions, and I had not even seen the time pass...
“ Friends are traveling companions, who help us advance on the path to a happier life ” - Pythagoras.
My Guyguy and my René, I embrace you strongly from where I am, and one day, I will be modestly at your side, as in the past, to smoke a cigar with You and benefit from your advice… While waiting for these moments, without impatience I admit, I still benefit from your presence and your advice, because when I smoke a cigar, most of the time, I think of you and the advice and opinions that you would have had for me, according to the questions that I ask myself during this moment – So you are already at my side, in these thoughts. “ Memory is the perfume of the soul ” - George Sand.
Our last dinners with our René, approaching this same Door…, he left first for this “final” Journey. These dinners for three, where we evoked Death, what there could be after… because our René would soon decide to cross this Door.
Today, you can rest assured, even though I know that you have never doubted our Guillaume who, since the Indian Café, has been one of your most loyal friends. The teenager you discovered is a man who is always discreet but active, honest and an efficient and upright, fair business leader. Today, our Guillaume is still the same, a successful business leader, with as his main common core good values and uprightness, but also a respectable and respected family man, but with a few white hairs. He is still faithful and at your partner's side, the one who was there until your last Journey, the one before the Gate of the Eternal Orient. The one who was at your side in these night establishments, whether the rays of the sun shine or the wind blows in the storm, whether lightning strikes these night establishments, always discreetly at your side, but affirming her presence with her gaze...
Today, our Guillaume is here, and he watches over our big Sister, as if she were his own mother. You can rest assured, even if our presence cannot replace yours with Christiane, we are not far away, and Guillaume very close. " There is only one happiness in life, it is to love and to be loved " - George Sand.
For my part, as for René, and then the departure of my Master – Ha Chau, I am in omission, and do not yet realize that you have left for this new Journey. Perhaps these few lines will help me, and fortunately I am writing to you with a computer, because otherwise the ink distilled by my tears would not allow for legible writing. We think of you, my Guyguy, and hug you hard, you and those who are at your side.
" The soul is colored by the color of its thoughts " - Marcus Aurelius.
Respectfully,
Your little brother Philippe Gaudin,
Master 7th Dan AMV,
Vo Co Truyen and Chinese Martial Arts
