Grandmaster Jong Kil Kang and Master Peishan Kang
I study Taekwondo at a local studio. It's not the prettiest studio in the world, in fact, it's located in a run-down, old house in a poor neighborhood, across town from where I live. Badly printed signs cover the walls, displaying sayings such as "Practice Doesn't Make Perfect - Perfect Practice Makes Perfect," or "Enthusiasm," or "Respect." Certificates, old photos, posters, and martial arts paraphernalia are displayed haphazardly in glass cases and around the walls.
At the front desk sits Master Peishan Kang, wife of Grandmaster Jong Kil Kang, an ageless Taiwanese woman who, after years of living in the United States, still retains an accent nearly incomprehensible to native English speakers, let alone to the Mexican-Americans and Chicanos who constitute the bulk of her students. Mrs. Kang could be 40 years old or she could be 70. She is quick to smile and laugh with the sheer joy of teaching the discipline of martial arts or equally so talking about the fruit trees growing in her back yard.
Nearby stands the head instructor, Martin, who says little in either his native Spanish or in English. During a class, he won't say more than a dozen words. Yet somehow he seems to convey through demonstration, patient corrections, and friendly pats on the shoulder, the intent of the basic kicks and forms.
Why, out of all of the fancy martial arts studios, did I pick this one to go to? Perhaps I'm drawn to little, out-of-the-way places. It could be that I prefer practical application over the baseless glitz of a more modern studio. It could be that the people who frequent the studio are friendly and have a desire to work at Taekwondo, even though some are overweight or have a bum leg. All are welcomed into the studio. Taekwondo teaches respect and we all try to maintain respect for each other.
So it came as a shock to learn that one of the instructors - who concentrates on teaching sparring, has put together a competitive team, and who has the skill to coach it - it came as a shock to hear that he left the studio because Grandmaster Kang didn't want to change his studio to suit one of his instructors.
The instructor's falling out with Grandmaster Kang wouldn't be all that unusual. Students, including the black belts, come and go all the time. What stung my sensibilities was the disrespect the instructor demonstrated when he walked out of the studio. Citing that Grandmaster Kang didn't like him or what he was trying to do (such as attempting to remake the studio in his own, "enlightened" model) the instructor himself quit, then took all of the members of "his" team, including some black belts, and walked out.
Here's the problem. If the instructor didn't like working with Grandmaster Kang, fine. He doesn't have to. He can choose to go somewhere else to teach and try to build up a team. He's welcome to start his own studio. But the disrespect he showed by not only walking out but poisoning the minds of the competitive team against the studio leaves no excuse. It profoundly demonstrates the follies of a man who cannot see beyond the tip of his own, selfish nose.
I don't use this story to condemn the instructor even though I believe he behaved badly. I wish him all the best and will miss his instruction and insight into sparring. I relate this story to demonstrate the modern plague of disrespect.
This is the same disrespect that I encounter from my own students, who have read and studied and experienced almost nothing in their lives, then argue and argue their point, never once considering their untenable position, only that they think they are right.
This is the disrespect of the judge who condemns a law that will benefit his particular view of reality because he knows better than millions of voters what's best for the country.
This is the disrespect of politicians who pass legislation designed only to maintain their utopian vision with no consideration of cost.
This is the disrespect of hubris born out of selfish desire. This disrespect is a plague threatening the fabric from which society is spun.
It is taught from the myriad broken families which parents have no time to teach children to behave. It is taught in elementary schools where mediocrity is rewarded. It is taught in the leftist doctrine of fairness - a thin excuse to elevate the ideal that some people are more equal than others. It is taught in the mindless collectivism of groupthink. It is taught by secularism's pervasive doctrines of moral relativism. It is inculcated into our minds through endless television programs and films which endorses the morally corrupt over choosing the better.
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