My 1st Degree Black Belt:

My name is Mariam and I came to United State on 1995. I have been married since and have eleven years old boy who is training at TKC. My husband wanted me to find a good martial art school to take our son; he also was asking me to do it. At that time I did not have any interest for some cultural reasons. When Farhad was five years old I admitted him in martial art school which we left after a year due to poor quality. After visiting three other martial art school a dear friend of us told us about TKC, two of her children started a month before I got admission for Farhad. After watching him for the first three months I decided to join and I am glad I did. God put me in the right place at the right time. When I needed at the time when my life was in a roller coaster, emotionally, mentally, and physically. At that time I did not have any information about martial art and the styles. My goals and expectation of the training was to get in to habit of physical exercise, stress relief, and concentration. I was suffering from depression and savior pain due to endometriosis. Basically, I really needed help.
My Black Belt journey was amazing, a great experience for finding myself again (self awareness) knowing myself better, getting myself confident, a new vision for life. I had ups and downs in my personal life through this journey from health issues to a loss of very dear person of my life my mother. I appreciate every single instructor, every Black Belt class assistant, and every single teammate for their understanding, for their support. I am very grateful being part of TKC.
I live this life now, not just living it. I wake up every morning with motivation, with a goal. I start my day being grateful for having another day to live and going to sleep being grateful, because, I do not depend on a medication to feel better. This journey helped me get closer to my creator (God). I feel him inside me, my heart is his house. My heart is lighted up with his love. That heart does not feel misery any more. I found peace of mind.
This journey is very special for me. I remember every belt and the happiness it gave me. When I could not wait to get my green belt and get the black uniform. I remember every step that got me closer to my Black Belt. I am a worrier and TKC taught me to take failure with pride. My Black Belt has changed my life for better. Besides, TKC is a family where I count to get help with my parenting. I bring my son with a strong belief where he gets the training to be confident, tough, and grow roots for flying to the outside world. TKC is a school of personal growth and I am glad I have the honor of being part of it. I am getting my 1st Degree Black Belt with my only child that is priceless. My life has lightened up; I would like to share this recent experience with everybody while I wanted to Kaizen report this to Mr. Fariborz only. We had Eid Celebration this Saturday after fasting the Holly Month of Ramadan. I could not enjoy it for the past thirteen years, because I was missing my family and relatives back home. This year I did celebrate and I enjoyed for the first time. I thank Mr. Fariborz for making it possible. You are my hero.

My Red and Black (Qualification) Belt:

My Red Belt:

My Brown Belt:

My Blue Belt:

My Green Belt:

My Yellow Belt:

My Orange Belt:

My Mission Statement

I will maintain a positive, strong personality with goals and ambition for the rest of my life. My goals are to be a family member who could be count on, and maintain a loving and peaceful atmosphere at home. I remember my creator, (Allah SWT) till I die. I will pray five times prayer, and make up if I miss while taking a class or on the road. I want to learn more about my religion and my goal in three years to learn Arabic Language. I will take writing classes right after I get my Black Belt. After improving my writing skills I want to write a book which I already chose a title. It is, (Finding my way through stars). I will keep practicing to get my belief, (Iman) stronger and use the light send by God for our lives (Quran), and act up on it. I will use the teachings of Prophet Mohammad for the success in this life and hereafter. I will be there for my family and friend. I will keep my rewarding teaching job and plant the seed of education in childrens life. I will take care of my health and rise up my energy to be more effective citizen and fulfill my responsibilities as good human on this earth by recycling, saving water, and energy. I will keep martial art training as one of my life routines stay fit, and maintain a healthy weight for the rest of life.

My Essays

I was only six months old that my parents was separated. My dad and his family took my older sister who was three years old at the time and they left country. Mom came back to her brothers house. My mom was two years old when her mother died giving birth to a baby boy. So, she had a difficult childhood. When she was engaged to my dad her father died. So, she came to a house where her life was more miserable, step mother, step sister, and step brothers. Besides, she was missing her older daughter. Life challenges and failures took her health. She had savior depression which was causing her nervous breakdown once a year or every other year. My mom was a teacher and all those circumstance affected her job too. So, from young age I became my moms mom. My childhood was though and fortunately it is past, people who caused it are forgiven. But, memories are memories. I had to work so hard to be fed. Basically, I was earning the food for me and my mom. I am sorry I can not write any more, I am not brave enough, but my goal is to write a book and share my experiences of lifes school.
I do deserve a black belt for sure, because I am a fighter, a fighter for my rights, a fighter with difficulties. A person who had many great falls and every time stood up and moved on. I am getting the best out of this life, because each fall gives new lessons. When I was seventeen years old I was engaged with a man whom I never seen, arranged by our family. Arranged marriages are still common in our culture, especially, in Afghanistan. After we got engaged I found out the he been was in a relationship with an Armenian girl for six year. That was the first hit of our relationship. A girl who was never touched by any other man marries who has been in a relationship with another woman for such a long time. In our culture says it is ok they are men. After all, my husband ended that relationship few months after our engagement and gave me a lot of love and attention. I came to the United States when I was nineteen years old. My in-laws were expected a servant not a daughter-in-law or a sister-in-law. I will share one how I fought for my rights. When I decided to go college, they were shocked and my husband told if he let me go out of the house and get educated I would leave him. The story is long; his friend came and asked me. Sister Mariam Are serous about going to college?, I said yes. He said, Your husband is going to divorce you. I told him wow, tell him to go ahead and I will be a proud divorced women who fights for getting educated. My marriage life was the roller coaster ride of my life. I am off the roller coaster, recovering, am noticing the relief. I have shouted up the pain built over the years. I shout it up punching and kicking on a punching bag. TKC is another stress relief, anger management center for me. I hale the pain by meditation, and reading Sufi books and martial art training. I maintain the peace of mind, the peace in my heart by forgiving, by positive thinking, and positive energy. I have found that Mariam who I lost the touch.
Yes, I do deserve Black Belt. I have saved my marriage and did not let my son suffer what I had suffered. I gave my husband may chances. I am getting good results by being patient by giving and stepping hard on my ego. I have sacrificed which I will never regret. Farhad has a kind and caring dad. It is just lack of education. He has a good heart and we both love him. I want my son to look up to educated people and notice the difference. I want him to grow up around people with higher goals, around who had the guts at any age to start from new. The biggest lesson of many weekly martial art lessons that I have been practicing is, everyday is a new day for the rest of your life. I admire people who give their lives a chance. They search to know things, know themselves, and the world, and this life. I really deserve to live the rest of my life with peace in mine, and peace in heart. I deserve to live with higher self-steam, and self confident. I have chosen a healthy life style, and martial art training has been helping me to get in to this great habit and keep it for the rest of my life. I have lived my life with honor according to my religion, cultural expectations, and family expectations. I am a loyal wife, and mother who dedicated her live to her child. I am kind to others regardless of what color or religion is. I live my life with a healthy heart and good intention. Everyday I have a goal to do something good either if it is feeding a bird or a squirrel or give a warm smile. I am very grateful for countless blessing I have. I look forward to walk to candle isle and tie the Black Belt around my sons waist. I love Mr. Ts teaching style. He believed in me when one day I came to him and said, Mr. Terry I can not take the test I am so stressed that I cannot focus. He said, You dont come here to stress yourself and come to stress relief, ask me for a bag to punch. The night before my Red Belt test I came to studio to take a private class with Mr. Terry. That night I was so nervous and he send me home. He said, Go and rest you will be fine. He really understands my health condition and helps me to catch up. I really appreciate my husband encouragement to start doing karate. He works hard and giving me and Farhad to achieve our goal. I remember I fought to go and stat college. I went go my association degree in early childhood programs. After graduating from Pierce College, right in graduation day when the college Dean hand my t, I promised myself to go for my four year Degree. That time my husband believed in me and said go and study more. I graduated with another degree in business management. I am adding another great honor, which is Black Belt. I am grateful for this life and its adventures.

Black Belt means a key to success and a different eye to see the world, discipline, habit of a healthy life style, strong enough to face lifes challenges, patience, being humble. Getting the 1st Degree is finding the treasure of benefits, and moving one with higher degrees using what one get from the treasure and apples it in life.
I always loved to do any sports, especially volleyball. I was three years old that was in Afghanistan started. So, there was not any opportunity for girls to do any sports. In high school years the principle arranged a volleyball team. I was so happy, but it did not last very long. The civil was stated on 1999 and that was it. We left county to Pakistan as Afghan refugees. After coming to United States on 1995 as a married woman I had to start from zero. For me it was a new world, everything and that was another challenging chapter of my life to catch up with busy lifestyle as a foreigner.
During this time my husband was encouraging me to go to karate. Unfortunately, in our community it did not look good for woman to do such a thing. I was weak enough to care about it. When we were searching for a good karate school for Farhad when he turned five years old, we found out that YMCA has karate classes. I took him there for a year and half and did not like it. We visited other two karate schools and did not like it. Till we heard from a friend about TKC, and there we put Farhad and after sitting and watching for five months I decided to start. I really liked the family environment. Since TKC was successful school for many years opened a door for me and my son to do something together. I use this time as a quality time. The time I stated karate at TKC was the most difficult time of my life. I was going through a depression, I was miserable. I lost my self, and could not focus at all. I was confused, and never felt that way in my life. I remember taking Mr. Jasons class and during silent meditation my tears were rolling almost every class. Since, I could not focus I felt really embarrassed, because all my school years I was a straight A student. During my orange belt when I went to see my doctor he said, I am sorry to say that you may be depression medication for the rest of your life. It broke my heart, I was crying. Moving on to green belt I start to get better, focus better, and I said to myself, I will live my life with out depending in this medication. I will live life, because it is beautiful and I deserve to live with happiness not with misery. That was one goal that I sat and I have achieved it. I have a very weak back and most of the time I am in pain. I was very young and by picking up very heavy thing I heart my back. Few of my family member said I should not do it because of my back. I decided to continue. I learned that I do my best and that is what matters.
Training martial arts and practicing my faith gave my life back. I can not express it in word how I feel about life now and how I see it. I feel my every breath. I want to live every moment of life. I wish for longer life, because I missed many years of it. Starting martial art training was a key to our success to know myself better and helps me with difficult job of parenting. What Farhad has started to learn I could not find it anywhere else, but at TKC. It is not just physical activity, being in good shape or health.
Black belt is Self-discipline to me. The journey teaches it, and it is very important value in life. I as parent and as a teacher put discipline first then TLC in my philosophy. A person could be discipline in a classroom in front of a strict teacher or act it out in front of strict parent, but self-discipline is ones inner life no matte where or what. Training martial arts help one to get into the habit of a healthy life style by training and workout regularly. Specially, the stressful life style in the United States, not many families have the time to cook at home. The chain of fast food is growing and along the obesity.
Black Belt means a person becoming though enough to face difficulties of life, and how to deal with it with patience, and being positive depending on different situations by being com, looking up, breathing, and confident. If someone is come and has control over his/ her emotion then he/she can use common sense. When I mention that I am getting my black belt, the most common thing that I hear from those who have no clue about is, we call you if there is a fight. I look at them and say I do not go there to fight or beat up someone. After all getting 1st degree is the ticket for the game, I say game of life. The great thing is that anybody could start. Our children are lucky to have this golden opportunity. Adults could use their life experience and keep up the good habits and values by adding more and more and get rid of the bad ones. One of experiences so far and an important one is I never knew how much fear I had. I thought I am really courageous. But, not I realized that I have a lot of fear about life. So, I am in the process of overcoming my fears. Here is a great prayer which is called, (Serenity Prayer), God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. My favorite prayer and I say it very often.
TKC is a bright example of team work. In my group Tuesday and Thursday 7:30 classes and Saturday BBC class team work is a key that motivates everybody. Everybody cares for each other. They pass out information; if everybody knows about the changes made to curriculum. I really appreciate their kindness, and caring for each other. Therefore, black belt is team work, making new friends, being in a positive environment, and feeling the great energy. Teachers are great I really appreciate their hard work and patience helping me walking through this path. I really enjoy each class. When I miss classes for the health condition I am makes me feel bad. Again, I do my best.
At the end I would like to add few more sentences about importance of being humble. We have a saying, The branches of a fruitful tree always bended towards ground. This explains that a wise person is always humble. A black belt looks good around ones waist that is humble not who walks with pride. As we say, even a sword does not cut a soft neck. Soft neck means neck of a humble person. I wish all 2009 candidate and many coming years candidates. I am hoping that everybody use this step stone as a lesson of commitment for their bright future. Mr. Fariborz, please forgive me if see any grammatical mistakes. I will write an essay in Farsi soon, that way I can express my thoughts and feelings better. You are hero in many live, may ALLAh give you long life with health, and more success.

My Letters of Recommendations

Dear Sir/Madam,
We would like to recommend Mariam Ahmadyar for your black belt program. As we are certain the black belt requires dedication, strength (both mental and physical), discipline, and a good character, we are more certain that Mariam is qualified for it. She possesses all these qualities and more.
As a teacher, Mariam bears the stamina and fervor to manage her students even under the most difficult circumstances. She always has a cheery demeanor and is always eager to learn new things. She takes criticism well and interacts well with her coworkers.
We are proud of Mariams accomplishments and hope that you find her a suitable candidate for your black belt program. Please contact us should you require any further references or information.
Sincerely,
Mamdouh Elalami Ayesha Mullick
Director Principal

Dear TKC Committee:
I am very pleased to write this letter in support of Mariam Ahmadyars application to your Black Belt program. I have known Ms. Mariam since she moved to the United States of America. Mariam has been a friend to me and Ive had close and regular contact with her all these years.
As a friend, I learned that Mariam is a concerned, dedicated, and eager learner. During this time she improved her language skills, and achieved an Associate Degree in Child Development and a Bachelor Degree in Business Management. I am sure that she will now be able to handle the demands of black belt curriculum and use the discipline wisely through the course of her life. Mariam is a highly motivated individual who willingly accepts responsibility and is very dependable. Moreover, she is an intelligent, well-spoken and caring person, and as a result she is very popular in Afghan community.
I feel fortunate to have Mariam as a friend who understands the needs of others. Moreover, she is an outstanding person: intelligent, likable, honest and compassionate. I am confident that she is well deserved to be one of your candidates for black belt.
Sincerely Your,
Shakiba Monis

To Whom It May Concern,
The black belt in martial arts means many things. It means valiance, it means courage, it means strength, and it means patience. It means obedience, discipline, mastery of oneself, and honor. Not only does it reflect ones character, but it is also a measure of ones physical strength and agility. It is these elements of the human condition, be they mental or physical, that one must perfect and tame in order to achieve the black belt. And I, Madinah Wardak, a close family friend of Maryam"s, see no one else more fit for the position. She is an admirable character who is headstrong with a kind heart. She lives her life strictly by her moral principles and adheres to her true self. She raises her son with the same compassion and endurance she does herself, and it is easy to see from her demeanor that she is a woman of high respect and recognition. I do not see any reason as to why Maryam would not be fit for the black belt, as she epitomizes the very essence of what the belt means. My whole life I looked up to Maryam as an older sister and have tried dearly to achieve the high quality of life and self-respect she has done so for herself as a woman. I admire her kindness and perseverance. It would be a shame that her long hours of hard work for the belt would be gone to waste. In Maryam, I see a master and a queen, and no one is more capable than she to wear and carry an honorable black belt; whether it is on her waist or in her heart, Maryam is the best candidate for the belt.