Jesse Bouchard - One in A Million
Only three people out of every one hundred, statistically speaking, will make it to first degree black belt in karate. Maybe one out of those three will continue training beyond that rank. Jesse Bouchard definitely defied those odds and then some.
A surgery in his early childhood led to some brain damage, which made everything he did a constant struggle for the rest of his life. He had to work much harder than other people in school, life, and other activities he enjoyed, including karate.
Karate was a mainstay of his life. Repetition helped him learn, which is one reason karate was good for him, but even that was often a struggle. Katas took him longer to learn sometimes, and he often had to learn them in smaller sections to memorize them. His mind, body, and spirit were not always in unity – but his spirit was strong enough to support the other two parts of the triangle, and gave him the balance he might not otherwise have found.
It was his spirit that kept him going, and gave him a will to finish anything he started – follow every path he set out on to its end. Despite his hardships, he graduated high school, attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts, and was awarded with the degree of black belt in not one, but two styles of karate – Uechi-Ryu and Sanchin Bushi Ryu.
The phrase “one in a million” gets used a lot these days to describe people; however, statistically speaking, Jesse really was one in a million to achieve everything he did in his life.
R.I.P. – Sensei Jesse Andrew Bouchard,
our brother, from all of us at
The Sanchin Bushi Karate Dojo of Fort Kent. Ous!