Originally Posted by
me, on Wifey's laptop
The Halfway House
Martial art practice for a lot of people is about fun. This on its own I do not take issue with, I find it to be a great deal of fun as well. However, for some people I have encountered, this is where their commitment to Taekwon-Do begins and ends. If you are still a beginner, fair enough. But as you approach black belt level, you should have come to the realisation that either a) the commitment required to develop as a martial artist beyond that point is not for you, or b) martial art requires a lot more than just what is ‘fun’. It requires hours of what could politely be termed ‘drudgery’ – if you are a person who can ceaselessly enjoy every moment of practicing a pattern over and over again, or doing what feels like endless as-slow-as-possible side kick repetitions, then good for you, tell me the secret! I can’t put myself in that category. I would often much rather sit down with a whisky and watch an anime series than do another run-through of Choong Moo, correcting what I fell short on the last time. But doing that would make me a halfway house martial artist.
A halfway house martial artist is my term for the people who don’t immediately try to correct a mistake when someone points it out to them. The people who get through grading exams on the bare minimum requirements, and don’t bother training hard for them because they’ve seen other people get away with it, so why not? I don’t greatly dislike these people, but it is my belief that by the time you get near to black belt level it should be obvious to you that Taekwon-Do does not truly, deeply matter to you, if the preceding statements sound a little too familiar. And is it worth continuing to spend your finite lifetime on something that doesn’t matter? Stop wasting your time and find something that does.
If lots of focused – albeit tiresome, at times – repetitions and drills are the martial artist’s friend, then his enemies are his desires; by which I mean the immediate desires common to everyone, not this personal goals. Comfort and pain avoidance are probably the ‘big two’, and the main things stopping lots of people from training when their deeper will is urging them onwards. Other people can sometimes be added to this list as well – ‘why are you training? It’s late. Come and watch some telly.’ This is not to say we should be obsessives, neglecting our social lives entirely, but if watching TV for an hour beats training for an hour, every night, then perhaps you need a rethink.
This is the vaguely philosophical bit... any and all paths that you can take are the same. They lead exactly nowhere; there is no destination. At the end of your life you will be in the same place no matter what you choose, with regard to your ultimate fate, except you will be able to look back with either regret or satisfaction. So choose the path that truly matters to you, and you alone. You’ll put much more into it, it will give you greater happiness, and at the end of it all you can look back with a smile. And you might find it easier to get your ass off that sofa and do some more side kicks, as well.
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