I Watched The Original Karate Kid For The First Time, And It Taught Me An Unexpected Lesson

SPOILER ALERT: The following article may contain a few light spoilers from The Karate Kid, so proceed with caution if you have not seen the film.

I regret to admit that there is a decidedly lengthy list of essential cinematic classics that I have yet to see, or, at least, have not seen all the way through, and The Karate Kid was one of those films until recently. An even bigger regret of mine is not checking out the 1984 coming-of-age drama – now available with a Netflix subscription – sooner because, in my book, it is a near-perfect film.

While I had a good feeling that I would get a kick out of the beloved ‘80s movie, I did not expect it to teach me a certain lesson that I actually needed to learn at this particular time in my life. I imagine The Karate Kid has helped many people unlock their inner confidence and even inspired them to study martial arts, but for me, it inspired me to solve a problem with my new dog. Allow me to explain, first by delineating exactly what the film taught me.

The Karate Kid Taught Me About Discipline And Patience

As the story of a young man learning the ways of martial arts, director John G. Avildsen’s The Karate Kid certainly counts as a sports movie, and might be my all-time favorite sports movie now. However, I also think most of its fans agree that the film, just as Mr. Miyagi (Academy Award nominee Pat Morita) says about karate, is not actually about fighting, but is a story of self-improvement through two very valuable qualities: discipline and patience.

Through his unconventional mentorship (i.e., “wax on, wax off”), Miyagi teaches Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) the value of keeping oneself on a consistent regimen (be it an athletic training plan or a professional task) and having the patience to see these practices take their full course and result in a desired outcome. This really resonated with me because I am not the most patient person and, resultingly, have trouble keeping myself under certain disciplines – a bad habit that was getting in the way of my attempts to train my new dog.

The Film's Lesson Helped Me Train My New Dog

About two weeks before the night I watched The Karate Kid, my wife and I adopted a Beagle/Basset Hound mix we named Indy (after the title character from the Indiana Jones movies), a decision that was immediately met with joy until he proved to be a challenge. I will not get too explicit with the details, but out of nowhere, he had developed certain habits that I quickly became desperate to reverse… a little too desperate, I will admit.

It was not until after I watched the underdog sports movie that I realized I was not disciplining myself to stick with the training tips I had picked up to help with the situation, and to be patient with Indy’s progress instead of allowing myself to get frustrated with him, which I was undeniably guilty of. The very next morning, I applied these lessons to my approach and ended up making the breakthrough I had been striving for. I swear, it was as satisfying as Daniel’s epic crane kick that defeats iconic ‘80s movie villain, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), at the end.

For how the film has helped me, I think I owe it to The Karate Kid to explore more of the franchise, except, maybe, for Part III. However, I have heard good things about Karate Kid: Legends, which means I should probably dedicate some time to streaming Cobra Kai, which I also hear is one of the best shows on Netflix. Who knows what other life-changing lessons I may learn from them?