An important lesson

The other day we had a student test and not pass his next belt level. Energy, connection, centering, breathing and flow are tested in addition to the techniques. The techniques were correct and even functional, but the rest were lacking that day. We have seen this student perform in class with all the needed bits, but on the day of the test they couldn't be summoned. It's the inability to call it all together on demand that we failed the student for. The student accepted the failure gracefully and will work that much harder for the retest. And I've no doubt the next time will be wonderful to behold. 

But the reason I'm blogging about it is, I believe that failed test was more of a lesson for the rest of the class then for the student who actually failed. When Sensei Mits discussed with the students the reasons for the failure, I saw a lot of lights going on behind their eyes. A lot of wisdom and determination were passed because of that "failure". Our standards are high, and they should be! On the streets and in life in general, we can't postpone our challenges for "when it's good for us". We have to be able to call from within ourselves and from our training the ability to perform on command and succeed.