On the Current State of TaeKwonDo (1)

"You made the right choice," a student recently declared after finding out I had chosen TaeKwonDo as my martial field of expertise. "That's the correct art to go for," he added, "modern American Karate just doesn't cut it."

Perhaps he was right. Not about one art being superior to the other, but rather, different. Suited more to the agressive, violent lifestyle we are indelibly thrust into in this time of gang warfare, inner city strife, ghetto protocol and life-endangering altercations on a daily basis. Perhaps a martial way that a friend once called 'the closest thing to street fighting without losing the artistic aspect' is what has been lacking. Perhaps it is something else entirely, something that is not only missing from our daily lives, but from the arts that purport to guide us on a path to the Way as well.

In speaking about modern, Americanized karate, the boy touched on a vital issue. After all, how modern, how culturally assimilated can our art become before it falls into the traps of commercialism and the equivalent of publicity stunts? Nowhere is this more evident than in the modern state of TaeKwonDo. Granted, it has always been an adapting, ever-growing art whose charm lies in its embracing of change. However, the embracing of modern concepts, newer forms, and seemingly better ways of attracting students never used to mean the shunning of tradition.

It seems TaeKwonDo instructors have all but forgone their roots and true training in favor of a more lucrative strategy: immediate gratification of students' penchant for hurting others. Sure, we seem to say, train with us so you can learn to kick someone's ass. Never mind the consequences, never mind that you should not be beating people down on the street for no apparent reason and especially never mind the discipline we should be instilling in you. All we want is to make money, and in turn help you win fights.

There are, of course, exceptions. But the true master, the one who wants his or her students to succeed beyond the ring, to build a better, more peaceful world as the TaeKwonDo student oath goes, has become a rarity. Oh, one can still find a few, but it is almost like looking for a Miyagi-like needle in a Cobra-kai haystack.

To be fair, martial arts instructors should be able to make money from their talent, but should not make it the sole objective of their training. Sadly, the few (or perhaps the many) that still adhere to the master's code of life seem to wither away into obscurity, while the more economically motivated seem to amass a greater following.

There is still hope, though, insofar as there are still teachers who are motivated by a desire to impart wisdom upon ready vessels and to instruct them in the way, whether it be the way of the flying foot and the shattering punch or the way of the empty hand. Teachers who are motivated by factors other than just monetary gain, but truly vested in their students' overall well-being.