Ah, a correction to that. I was at the first Unity Meeting. The whole 10th, 11th and 12th issue was brought up and shot down. That definitely was not what was expressed as Sijo's wishes, nor was it approved as a whole at the meeting. There were those that wanted to do so, but those few were in the great minority. It was expressed by a huge majority that absolutely this was not to be the case. There are other posts here on the Café where this issue has been addressed, in regards to the 10th Degree and GM Garcia both.
Why make a 10th? That was the question at the meeting. What is the point? When will it stop? Because some 9th Degrees want to be 10th, as they have been 9th for a long period of time? Well what happens if life extends longer and they are 10th for too long? Then they get an 11th? Basically, what is the problem with just being content with a 9th? Why the driving desire for another rank? The chasing of rank and titles has caused tremendous issues within our Art and most every other Art there is, from White Belt on up. There just is no need of it, and the consensus of the leaders of Kajukenbo, and of the Kajukenbo family as a whole, is there is NO 10th Degree, nor is there to ever be one.
Sijo's wishes have changed many times over the years on many topics, and they have also been manipulated by others over the years. Those close to him at the end know what his final wishes were and we have to count on them to uphold that. But, again, WHY?? Why would someone need a 10th Degree? There is just no justifiable need of it, otherwise at that meeting we would have had a different discussion about it. Ahhh, I could just keep typing, but there is no need to do so.
