It is funny the effect of popular culture on our everyday life. Recently I was watching a show on TV about Star Trek and the influence it had on today’s technology. They showed that what were once science fiction TV props had now become a fact of modern day life. This was because the TV show had such a profound effect on a generation that when that generation came of age, the ideas planted in there minds as adolescents became reality. An example was the Star Trek hand held communicator and the modern day cell phone.

As for me, yes I like Star Trek but the TV show that had the greatest influence on me was Kung Fu. Now this TV show what not rooted in the future but in the past, so there were no science fiction concepts to realize. No, the concepts in Kung Fu were ancient concepts and ancient wisdom that once embedded in the hearts and minds of the viewers, was there for life.

The Bruce Lee movies and the whole Kung Fu craze in American Martial Arts was yet to come but this TV show was my first exposure to the Chinese Martial Arts and I was fascinated. Later on, when I had a chance to actually learn Kung Fu, I always kept in mind the scenes from the introduction movie where the Shaolin Masters displayed the animal movements in their particular styles. Even now, when I am working out I can imagine Master Po correcting my form, my moral compass, and my path in life.