"When Worlds Collide" (A Guide to Self-Discovery) by R David Lawrence

Friday Knight News

For the next few weeks I'm going to feature on this blog my last four fights of high school and what they taught me about myself. I am currently writing a book entitled, "When Worlds Collide" (A Guide to Self-Discovery). A lot of people might feel it is silly bringing up old memories from almost 40 years ago, but to me it is very important because it was a pivotal fork in the road for me. The majority of my memories are strong as I have always engaged in contemplative meditation exercises. I still not only recall but feel the feelings that I have had prior to birth, let alone childhood and high school. The text of the book is dealing with the subject of self-awareness and the role that martial art meditation has played in my life journey as a paradigm that I continue to follow.

The first of these fights was in a convoluted way over a girl. I guess that isn't earth shattering news for a teenage boy to get into a scrape over a pretty face. The trouble is to this day I'm not sure which girl was behind the whole fiasco. In fact the motivation of the antagonist might not have been connected to the girl I was sitting with whatsoever. I have repeatedly asked my buddy that was involved in this incident about the proverbial snowball that caused the avalanche, but to this day he has not responded.

The truth be told, in my mind at least, the girl that I had never gotten closure over was the reason I approached this other young lady on the school bus. I was hoping that talking to her would help ease some of the heartache I felt after rejecting the girl I was messed up over. It was a long story as to why I had threw away my chances with the young lady that wasn't present on the bus, but what I had done was from (somewhat misguided), noble intentions. I had staged a preemptive breakup and it might have been the most selfless thing I had ever done in my life thus far. As this first gal had been all that I had wanted, although the manner in which I had gone about the situation was purely stupid and cowardly. Eventually my attempts to find closure led me to find another young lady that seemed predestined to become my wife. There were still some other failed attempts to put this gal out of my mind in between but that is neither here nor there. My wife has stood with me without complaint and has stood in the gap for me through several moments, times and situations where life and death was hanging in the balance. She is the woman who has now been married to me twice as long as we had been alive when we first met. Still if there is one moment from my life that I regret was the way I had sabotaged that earlier blossoming relationship, because it revealed a fundamental weakness in my character that I had yet learned to address.

But back to the fight on the bus, what sparked this fight off, on top of this back wash of emotion, was the fact that there was a limited amount of open seats available on the bus. All of the other seats had two or three people in them, except one. That seat was occupied by a young lady I had not met to that day. The bus was over filled that day due to some sort of malfunction with the transportation available at the time. Regardless of this the young lady had been turning down every one of my schoolmates that had asked to sit with her. This was including the senior that I was about to get into a fight with, although I didn't know it at the time. After she turned him down he took the seat right behind her, which already had two occupants, but he convinced one of the young men to find a seat elsewhere. I don't recall the name of the pretty young gal who was sitting in her seat all alone on the overly crowded bus that day. The only thing that I knew was that I would rather be sitting with her than any of the other members of this motley crew. I was the third to the last person in queue to board the bus and I noticed that she smiled at me as I cast my eyes down the aisle looking for a seat. As I said, I immediately realized that chatting with her would be a wonderful diversion from the heartache I felt. At this time I was already aware that I would be changing school districts, but at this point I was not certain which part of the country or the world that I would wind up going to live. My parents were moving across state, but I had heard unofficial rumors that powerful influences in my life had other plans for me at the time. I will not address the matters concerning those powerful influences in this form, but I mention them to help set the stage on my outlook during the time of these four fights.

This particular flight was the second to last one I had at my favorite high school. The next fight happened entirely on school property at the same school, but it was about something altogether different and I will render my point of view on the matter in one of the follow-up blogs. The last two fights had nothing to do with either of these situations and I believe they were just the stereotypical testing out the new guy in school kind of situations. Although only one of these last two fights happened on school property.

It just so happened that this particular fight started on school property and ended off of school property. The way that it started was on the school bus and ended behind the barn on my parent's property. The young man that I was to engage with was a senior and to my understanding was on his way off to join the United States Navy. The rumor in school had it that he had been given an option by a judge to join the military or enjoy a vacation provided by the state. I wasn't sure about the details and I wasn't about to ask at this juncture in our relationship.

The only thing I could say about the young man at the time was I knew he hung out with some of the toughest kids in school. And in my mind that made him tough by association alone. I'd seen one of his friends in a fight on the school premises not long before and to say that I had been impressed by his performance, would be an understatement. I had asked around about his friend after he had fought four guys in a row back to back. I don't know what any of those fights were over, but discounting the talking the length of time it took to lay out four individuals was easily under three seconds. People who knew the players in this group informed me that the fighter in question was an assistant instructor to a rival martial arts school in our area. So, I went to this fight having the mindset that the much cooler and more popular slightly taller and older senior was probably well-versed in the combative arts. Now that the background is set I will address the actual combative elements and the lessons I derive from them in the next two installments of: Friday Knight News.

Below are links to some of my Kindle version books from the "Dream Walker" series. My stories are about martial arts adventures that are intertwined with paranormal or supernatural events. The following links are to the Kindle version books from the "Dream Walker” series. Our adventurers find themselves on a quest where they are confronted with both conspiracy and mystery. Their challenge is to unite their mind and body skills together utilizing what they have learned in the martial arts with the transcendental power of dream mediation. They attempt to do this while they are trying to make a life for themselves and elude those that seek to use and control them.

Conversations with a Sage (Book 1 of the Dream-Walker)

Conversations with a Sage: This explores Xander Davidson's early encounters with the mysterious fog like Dream Walking martial art sages. He ponders if they are real or if they are only remnants of his dreams. He mainly keeps this secret world to himself as he tries to copes with abuse, growing up without support or guidance and the mystery of his family's past. 

Xander and the Assassins Gift (Book 2 of the Dream-Walker)

The Assassins Gift: Xander Davidson struggles with the conspiracy of his family and the group that is actively trying to manipulate him to join them or die. The young Dream Walkers learns an early lesson to be careful about whom they let into their circle.


Warriors of Perception (Book 3 of the Dream-Walker)

Warriors of Perception: Xander Davidson and his band of friends embark on a mission to free themselves from their oppressors. They bravely face the challenge all the while vying for the right moment to turn the tables.

Jace Lee The Shift (Book 4 of the Dream-Walker)

Jace Lee The Shift: We find a new apprentice, Adam, that is fighting for his life. He is struggling to understand the amazing skills of his mentor, Jace Lee; a younger man that has trained under Xander Davidson. All the while his mentor attempts to reconcile the fact that his skills do not match up with the other Dream Walkers.


Jace Lee No Agenda (Dream Walker Book 5)

Jace Lee No Agenda: Jace Lee attempts to find himself on a self-imposed vision quest of sorts. Instead he finds himself being stalked by the same group that had previously sought after his teacher, (Xander Davidson). Instead of mastering his odd Dream Walking skills he finds love and the potential loss of his powers.

Jace Lee and the Tutelage of Ming Wu: Dream Walker 6 

Jace Lee The Tutelage of Ming Wu: Jace Lee rejoins his teacher Xander Davidson as they cope with a possible combined threat (the mysterious), Ming Wu and the Council that has continuously monitored the Dream Walkers.