At Morehouse College, I took the Spanish placement exam and placed into the highest level of Spanish that they had (Advanced Spanish literature or something like that) - it helped that I had had 4 straight years of high school Spanish.
I went to about a week's worth of classes at this level and decided to drop out. I love languages, but I could not stand to be reading Don Quijote de la Mancha in an archaic form of Spanish that was something like Shakespearean English. I couldn't see how it would be useful to me and - honestly - it was hard!
So, I dropped down to Spanish Conversation. When I enterred the class, they began the course with a "how to" speech. After attending several of the Morehouse football games, I had watched the cheerleaders doing this cool new dance routine to several of the modern songs. So, I asked one of the male cheerleaders to teach it to me since he lived in my dorm.
A week later, I did a how-to speech where I taught the entire class how to do this dance. Everyone recognized it and it was a big hit.
That same day, this other student brought in a partner for his how-to speech. He demonstrated several self-defense moves with his partner in Spanish. It was an incredible display and everything he did was picture-perfect. I had seen him around campus and had heard of fights and skermishes he had with the football players and frat guys.
His name was Malik.
Later that week, I was standing in the lunchline in the cafeteria when he came and jumped in the line with me (e.g. cut the line), "Hey bro', thanks for holding my space" was all he said. It was a HUGE taboo to cut the line at Morehouse. Brothers didn't take kindly to it.
But, I let him in and we talked all the way up to getting our food. We talked about where we were both from, etc, etc. He was like, "You should come to my martial arts class I teach." I was like, "naw ... I'm straight." (I'd been fighting all of my life and knew that I was at least decent at it because I was standing there).
He was like, "Naw, I think I can teach you some things." So, I was like, "ok ... I'll come" and he told me where to meet him later that night. We met in his dorm room in Forbes Hall ("the new dorm") - I stayed on the 3rd floor and he stayed on the 2nd. I had no idea.
He started teaching me little by little what he knew in his martial art - Ninjutsu. He began to have me read books about Ninjutsu, Japanese culture, etc. He said we were a clan, "Shadow of the Black Dragon" and that we would do everything together.
We started meeting up to eat in the cafeteria together. He would drop by my dorm room on the weekends to ask me if I wanted to roll with him to some carribean house parties and clubs - of course I did, I really didn't make friends very quickly at Morehouse.
So, while spending so much time together, he began to teach me about self-respect and respecting others. Malik was a Shiite Muslim and had a STRONG sense of self and an incredible amount of self-discipline at a young age.
I soaked up every lesson like a sponge. I've always loved learning and this was something that I was really missing - self-respect. Until I met him, I used to fight, curse, argue, reach over people while they ate and much more because I didn't have anyone who taught me any different.
Over time, we started to hang like two brothers. Malik worked at the post office in the package room and I would go down there and sit and talk with him for hours during the day. It was really interesting how he introduced me to people for years, "This is my boy ... Sean".
I drank my first Heinneken with Malik. I went to my first reggae house party with him. Shot a glock for the first time with him. And ... it was all an incredible growth experience.
Malik had a special way of knowing just what I needed and what I was missing. He was a natural teacher. He gradually trained me to teach the lessons that he taught me about self-defense, self-awareness, self-confidence, self-respect, and self-reliance to others. He was the first person in my life to place me in a leadership role among my peers.
He would call me at the last minute on a Saturday morning and be like, "you teach the class this morning. You're ready."
The exposure to Ninjutsu and the Japanese culture through the books that he leant me sparked an interest in me to learn more about the Japanese language. And I decided to study Japanese and eventually move to Japan to teach English in 1994.
Malik died in a motorcycle accident in 2001. It broke my heart and I cried for 7 days straight. But, when I went to St. Thomas for his funeral, I was asked to give the eulogy. I have to say, if it wasn't for all of the lessons of life that he taught me: perserverance, inner strength, and so much more, I would have never been able to make it through that speech.
I left the island renewed and because of him I am the strong, confident, respectful man that I am today.
Never pass on any opportunity to say, "I don't know" and open your mind to a new idea.
Thank you Malik for believing in me and helping me to grow: physically, mentally and spiritually.
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