The story behind the quote: I’ve done a lot of quotes from the original Karate Kid. It was only a matter of time for me to post a quote from the other films. This week’s quote comes from the third film in the Karate Kid franchise.
The quote comes during the climax of the film. Daniel Laruso (once again played by Ralph Macchio) is fighting a losing battle against Mike Barnes, the “bad boy of karate.” Daniel, deathly scared of his foe now, wants to quit. Mr. Miyagi (played by the late Pat Morita) delivers the quote to his student in order to help him regain some courage.
Geek wisdom: Fear is a huge hurdle to overcome, especially when you’re afraid of someone or something specifically. However, a lot of the time, this fear only magnifies our doubt. We do have to face our fears and maybe, just maybe, it won’t be as bad as we think.
The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the first Karate Kid film, specifically from Mr. Miyagi giving Daniel Laruso a life lesson.
After Daniel Laruso (played by Ralph Macchio) is saved by Mr. Miyagi from a vicious beating from Johnny Lawrence and the rest of the Cobra Kai dojo, the old man brings Daniel home. Daniel complains to Mr. Miyagi (played by Pat Morita) that Johnny and the Cobra Kai kids are bad eggs. This is when Miyagi tells Daniel that it’s what they were taught…
Geek wisdom: If we teach kids to do bad things, they will grow up doing these bad things, thinking it’s okay. We have to guide children and teach them to do the right things and not the wrong things early in life.
The story behind the quote: This is actually my second quote from the original Karate Kid film. I mentioned before that the movie has become a timeless classic because of the unorthodox training method Mr. Miyagi used on Daniel Laruso. However, there was another reason why the movie was so enjoyable. It was because John Kreese, the “sensei” of the Cobra Kai dojo.
“Sense” John Kreese (Martin Kove) is an incredibly ruthless teacher and always has to win… no matter what. During the match to determine the champion of tournament, Kreese orders Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) to attack Laruso’s injured leg.
Geek wisdom: While it may seem unsportsmanlike, it’s actually a good strategy to target the weak points of an obstacle to overcome them. Problems are problems because they are difficult to resolve. So, it only seems natural to look for possible ways to solve them.
However, there are obviously some repercussions if your solution is unethical. You also have to be able to accept the consequences of your actions.
The story behind the quote: The Karate Kid is actually one of the quintessential geek movies since it seems to be written like a piece of wish-fulfillment of a geek. A new kid named Daniel (played by Ralph Macchio) moves into a new town and is picked on by a bunch of bullies. He then finds out that the groundskeeper of the building he lives in, Mr. Miyagi (portrayed by Pat Morita), actually knows karate. Daniel manages to convince Mr. Miyagi to teach him karate to defend himself. If you were a nerd back in school, you do know the feeling of being bullied and dream of actually being strong enough to defend yourself. So, this movie sort of touches on this dream. More than that, however, the film itself has a lot of memorable scenes like the crane kick and the karate tournament.
This movie is also remembered because of the unconventional way Mr. Miyagi would train Daniel. Mr. Miyagi had Daniel do a lot of chores, such as painting a fence, sanding the floor and, of course, the memorable “Wax on. Wax off” scene where he tells Daniel that he has to wax and shine a bunch of cars. While all of what Daniel may have seemed to be useless, Mr. Miyagi actually shows him (and the audience) that it all had a purpose.
Geek wisdom: There are actually two bits of wisdom we can get from this quote. One, practicing something really pays off. The more you do something, the better you become at it. Daniel probably had to do the same circular motions more than a million times on that one day! Because of this, he was able to perform the right and proper motions on instinct. Great martial artists do amazing things, such as breaking boards or performing triple kicks. They probably weren’t able to do these things their first go at it, but they kept on trying until they actually could do it consistently.
The second thing we can learn from this is that, while something may seem useless when we learn something, it can prove to be very useful later on. Take the “Wax on. Wax off” part. Daniel (and the viewer) had no idea that there was an actual reason why the motions had to be circular. By the end, we all knew that Mr. Miyagi knew what he was doing. This happens when we study in school. We have subject that we don’t care about and we question why we have to learn it. Still, its best to learn it because we don’t know if it may wind up being useful in the future.
My Geek Wisdom 