It can be a difficult thing to appreciate what our tradition of fencing stems from as we do not wear costumes nor hold boisterous feasts. Let me provide a little context. Two overlapping events frame our fencing squarely in the Enlightenment: the publication of Giuseppe Rosaroll-Scorza and Pietro Grisetti, La Scienza della Scherma and the first public performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica. Our sword lineage derives principally from this era of thoughtfulness and beauty - a reminder of the great things that each of us are capable of. Our study of the sword, too captures this potential when we remind ourselves that the "beauty of the assault lies in the execution of its design".
Whether you choose to continue to pick up the sword this year or not I invite you all to take every opportunity to design beauty in your life through the thoughtful execution of your reason.