How many times has someone in your family come home in a bad mood, and that made everyone else unhappy? It's not fun, is it? Now reverse the situation. If everyone at home is in a bad mood, but someone comes home in a great mood, what happens? Usually, the happy person puts the rest of the family in a good mood. Wouldn't you rather be happy than sad? To the Ninja, family is very important. It is the job of the Ninja to protect the family, and one way is to protect them from being unhappy. Most of the time it's as simple as a smile, or helping with the chores (remember, Ninja came from farming families).
When many of us think about what a
warrior is, we may think of Arnold Schwarzeneggar, or maybe Sylvester Stallone, or maybe even the Power Rangers. Everyone would love to be the warrior that beats up 30 bad guys to rescue the victim in trouble. The reality is, that's probably never going to happen to any of us. You certainly wouldn't want to try and take on 30 bad guys to prove you are a warrior. So what exactly is a
warrior? To the Ninja, a true warrior is someone who lives their life the best way they can. Not a glorious life like a knight in shining armor; a normal everyday life of working to feed your family, being happy when you come home (remember the Warrior Creed?), helping those in need, being a friend to those who need it, etc.
That's what a true warrior is. It takes a lot more courage and strength to come home to your family in a good mood every day than it does to help a friend in distress. That's not to say you shouldn't do both, but the true measure of a warrior is being able to live according to the
Warrior Creed every single day.
