Natural pecking order

INTi dojo Mon 24/5/2010 class. Natural pecking order

Max's absence of two months from practice didn't make any difference to the members. I noticed that during bowing in at the start of the class when modest Max tried to sit on the extreme left side of the row the guys shooed and ushered him to go sit on to the right side.

By protocol senior students get to sit on the right side and the juniors on the left. The guys still acknowledge 3rd kyu Max as their sempai even though I didn't intervene as I am not so particular about protocol. Then as if on cue 5th kyu WTJ who had rejoined the class after a year's break quietly sat on the left side of the row and nobody shooed him away. This shows that after training together and bonding for some time your mates will acknowledge,accept and respect you for who you are even though you may have dropped out from the training for quite a while.