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The Martial Arts is My Way of Life
by Kwan Jang Nyhm Andy Bradbury
After my
freshman year in high school, I thought enough is enough. Throughout grade and
middle school I was the person that all of the bullies acted their poor
self-esteem upon, lucky me. These poor examples of human beings would do
anything they could possibly think of to hurt me, not just physically but
mentally. At times it seemed like these people had nothing better to do but make
my life miserable, and they done a good job of it. They would always come up
with different things everyday to tease me with and humiliate me in front of
other people. You name it they would do it. Whether it would be physically
hitting or kicking me, throwing me into walls and lockers, shutting locker doors
on my hands and head, trying to throw me into trash cans, and succeeding a few
times, throwing my P.E. clothes into showers, chasing me with bats, or spitting
on me and pulling my hair. By the way, maybe all of the hair pulling when I was
in school is the reason I have very little hair today, at least that is the
excuse I use. What made things worse, as if it wasn't bad enough, when I was
born, I was born with a foot and leg handicap that kept me in leg braces in
early childhood. Because of that I've always had to wear specially made shoes to
support my legs and feet. Today I still must wear these shoes and will always
have to. Those shoes were just what the so called upper classmen and anyone else
needed to make fun of me with. Phrases like "hey nice shoes", or "when are you
joining the army," were the most common that I would hear day in and day out.
You would think that these people would have been more concerned about their
schoolwork than me. Today I think they were just jealous because somewhere
inside of them they realized that someday I would find something that I could do
and that they couldn't. I realize now that the reason people become bullies is
because they themselves were and possibly still are lacking self-confidence and
pride in themselves. So they used their attitudes and arrogance to draw
attention to themselves regardless of how much they were hurting the other
person.
At this point I had enough. Pretty sad that it took me 9
years to come to that conclusion. I guess I was a slow learner. I wanted
'revenge'. I wanted to pay back every person that had ever picked on me. Thats
when I found the Martial Art of Taekwondo. Yet, I can assure you that after I
got into the class my attitude was changed rather drastically. One of the many
things that my instructor began to teach me was that with the proper attitude I
would slowly learn how to calmly handle any situation that may arise. He also
stated that Taekwondo training was only 10% physical and that the remaining 90%
was mental. At first, I found this very hard to believe, but as my training
continued, I slowly began to realize that he was correct. It wasn't until after
I got passed the attitude that I thought I knew everything that I began to learn
the proper attitude and respect towards others I needed. Taekwondo opened a
whole new world for me, I began to develop coordination, flexibility, muscular
and cardiovascular conditioning. More importantly I began to have more
self-confidence and self-esteem about myself, which is something I never learned
in any other sport, and to me that is one of the greatest things about the
Martial Arts. I guess the very strict atmosphere of structure and discipline in
every class changed me for the better.
Even thought the training was changing me personally, my last
3 years of school were still the same thing I had put up with 9 years
previously. One of the first things I was taught in class was that if anyone
used their skills outside of class they would be kicked out. At the time I
didn't realize what the phrase 'self-defense' meant. For that reason I did not
fight back because I did not want to be kicked out of class and be a disgrace to
my instructor. Finally my senior year I thought to myself this has got to stop,
I cannot go on like this, constantly being humiliated in front of other people.
Once I got the courage, one night before class started I walked into my
instructors office, shut the door behind me and preceded to explain to him the
dilemma I was going through. To this day, that 5-10 minutes I spent in his
office I will never forget. I was terrified that my instructor would think that
I was a bad person. It was like he had read my mind the moment I began to talk.
I didn't even get to finish what I was saying when he stopped me and said, "I
know what you are going through". At this point I was astounded. I thought to
myself, how could he, my instructor, possibly know what I was talking about. How
could someone that I looked up to and respected so much, and always will, go
through the same heartache that I had. He then preceded to explain to me that he
himself had went through the same ordeal when he was in school. In short, what
he told me in his office was a simple plan of action that I would have to do to
stop everything from happening. Eventually I followed his advice and did what I
had to do, which all it took was simply bouncing the person bothering me off the
lockers. After that one little incident, which maybe took only a split second, I
wasn't teased and picked on nearly as much because people realized that quiet
little Andy was going to stand up for himself and fight back. Then I realized
that part of becoming a good Martial Artist and instructor was overcoming
obstacles and setbacks. I believe that it says more of a person who continues
and eventually succeeds in the face of diversity than for someone who quits
because of so called failures. Positive lessons are not always taught in
positive ways.
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art. The definition of
Taekwondo is 'The way of the hand and foot'. Taekwondo is 80% kicking techniques
and 20% hand techniques. The reason being is that the Koreans believe a person
hands is too valuable to damage if ever attacked, that's why they defend
themselves with their legs. I agree with that to an extent. People should not
rely on their feel solely. What if they get their legs broken when attacked?
That's why they should train their hands as much as their legs. Taekwondo not
only trains people physically but more importantly mentally. It takes a very
strong individual mentally to succeed in Taekwondo because of the very strict
and disciplined atmosphere of the classroom. Which brings me to this. In my
opinion, a traditional style of Martial Arts, I feel, can do more for a person
than anything. Why? It seems to me that for some reason people get caught up in
the attitude, arrogance, and egotism of competition, whether it would be in
sports, professional and business relationships, etc., that seems to bring out
the worst in people. I personally have never understood why. Maybe I am missing
something. Sometimes it seems to me that 'winning' is all that matters to people
anymore, and they will do anything and say anything to anybody no matter how it
makes the person feel to 'win'. What ever happened to good sportsmanship and
respecting peoples opinions and individual differences? For that reason when I
am teaching class I do my best to keep that type of attitude and mind set and
everything that comes with that out of the classroom. That is another thing the
Martial Arts teaches is proper respect and courtesy towards one another. Also
the personal and private victory of being praised when a student is putting
forth the effort and training as hard as they can, instead of being criticized
for not being good enough is another positive aspect about the Martial Arts.
When someone is training in a structured and disciplined atmosphere in a Martial
Arts class it is not sport or competition, it is real life. I can't help to
think that if all of us had that type of atmosphere what it could do for us, not
only children but more importantly adults as well. Besides if we as adults are
not setting a good example, how can we expect kids to behave, listen in school,
etc. Just a thought. Yes, I understand that not everyone falls into the
personality of competition, there are always exceptions. Again, as I stated
earlier, this is just my opinion and I feel that I am entitled to it.
I have been in the Martial Arts now for 24 years and have
been teaching for 22. I am currently a 6th Degree Black Belt and the Executive
Vice President of the Traditional Martial Arts Association. I have competed in
numerous tournaments, have been trained and certified in Spontaneous Knife
Defense, Pressure Point Control Tactics, Criminal Countermeasures, Rape Defense
and certified as an advanced instructor using the Monadnock Expandable Baton and
the Monadnock PR-24 Expandable Baton. I have also attended numerous Aikido
seminars. I currently teach 3 days a week. There is not a day or class goes by
that my legs and feet do not bother me in some way. However, I refuse to let
that stop me. If anything, Taekwondo has helped my legs to become stronger. I
have never seen this as a handicap. I feel that so called handicaps are given to
ordinary people to help them to become extraordinary.
Throughout my training I have had the pleasure of meeting
extraordinary individuals who will always be a constant inspiration to me and am
honored to have become friends with. I have a group of very loyal and dedicated
students that I do not want to live without, they too will always inspire me to
achieve success, as I hope I have the same influence on them. Everything I have
accomplished so far in life and will continue to accomplish is a direct result
of my Martial Arts training. I have never, or will I ever, claim to be better
than anybody else just because I am an instructor and black belt. I just believe
in myself and set goals to achieve, which to me is what everyone should do in
some form or another. I will say that no one will achieve success in the Martial
Arts unless they come to class with an open mind and a sincere heart. To me that
is one key to succeeding in anything. I now know that everything that I went
through when I was younger is probably the best thing that could have happened
to me, because it has helped me to become one of the greatest things that I
could ever imagine, a Martial Artist. That is why the Martial Arts is my way of
Life.
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