The Task:
Renovate a doorway entrance using either my left hand or blindfolded, under a budget of $150

Finally, the day came when I got my first part of my Master’s Test: The Test of the Mind. The tests are written by Black-Belt Masters in the school and are written to address the weaknesses of the candidate taking the test. To my absolute honor, this test was written by the Head Master himself. My task was to renovate a section of the school used for training police officers to safely enter apartment buildings. The “Diallo Project” was constructed a few years prior to help the defendant police officers conduct research for the court trial coming from that tragedy. The full-scale mock-up of the apartment doorway was in need of repair. I was given two options for completing the construction: I could either use my left hand only (I’m right-handed) while the other hand was tied behind my back or work blind folded. I was allowed to switch from one restriction to the other as needed. In addition, I had to replace the decrepit entry door with an appropriate weather-worthy door. The entire project was to be completed with a budget under $150- which is the typical price for the door alone! After construction I had to walk one mile in under 15 minutes carrying any penalty weight I accumulate by going over budget. This was the Test of the Mind because of the prior planning that needed to be done before hammer met nail. Luckily, I was able to find a brand new door at the Habitat for Humanity warehouse for $35. When I found the door, I called my wife and said that I just passed my test. During the actual construction phase, things moved along smoothly, slowly and methodically. Until… I realized that I just walked up and down the steps and grabbed a saw WITH MY RIGHT HAND! I cursed myself for the lapse of concentration and was ill inside for the rest of the day. When I got home, I contacted my Master and informed him of the transgression. He counted it as a warning since I did not actually do any work with the right hand but if it happens again, there would be a penalty. After the test, I was told that the reason for this test was that my Master saw in me a level of haste in many things I did. The test forced me to take my time and do things in a slow and methodical way.

The rest of the construction was completed without incident and it came time for inspection. A committee of three Masters looked over the work and were mostly pleased. I was informed that there were two deficiencies in the work and I had to find them and fix them or take a penalty. To add to the stress, my Master waited to inform me until the night before I had to go upstate to help another student with her test. My only hope was to find the two problems and fix them before noon when I had to leave town. I found one of the two mistakes but couldn’t find the other. My penalty was to walk a total of three miles instead of one (each under fifteen minutes) while carrying thirty-two pounds of penalty weight. Upon my return from the walk, my Master informed me that I passed the test and he showed me the small detail that I missed: the two square pieces of wood at the top corners of the doorway that needed to be painted and I missed.