Kung Fu

"Snatch the pebble from my hand..."

In 1972, we went crazy over the television series Kung Fu, which starred David Carradine as the Chinese-American Shao Lin monk Kwai Chang Caine, who wandered around the Old American West doing good deeds for common folk while being chased by lawmen.  In the series, Caine's teacher was brutally killed by the Emperor's nephew, and in rage, Caine retaliated.  Forced to flee Imperial China for the United States, Caine began a long journey to find his next of kin, armed with only his fist-fighting techniques and his spiritual discipline. Kong Kong and I would wait for each episode like cult-fans and we'd watch each episode together, and he would occasionally interject stories from his childhood in China.  I remember I would try as hard as I could to imitate the Grasshopper and snatch the pebble from his hand (well, he was too fast and I couldn't get the pebble, except when he'd let me). In Chinese, the words "Kung Fu" literally means a skill that is acquired through hard work and constant practice, and Kong made sure that the adage "Practice Makes Perfect" would be drilled into my psyche.  It was a time of good father and son bonding, a time of enjoyment as well as learning.