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Victory: 6th Tenet of Taekwondo

Victory: 6th Tenet of Taekwondo

Victory didn’t use to be part of the tenets of Taekwondo.  At some point in time they added it as a tenet, giving us six Taekwondo tenets to guide our lives by.

What is Victory?  It is a tenet that tells us to have a positive outlook on things.  Regardless of how bad things seem to be, there is always a silver lining in those dark looming clouds.  In simple terms, it is a way of having a positive mental state, and always having a “can do” attitude.

You could also say victory can  be directly tied to our attitude towards things.  If you are pessimistic, then you definitely aren’t exercising victory.  If you are optimistic, then there is a good chance you are applying the tenet of victory.

Here are examples that show a case where victory is lacking, and where victory is applied, respectively:

John is getting ready to test for his black belt.  He is feeling a bit edgy because the final test day is coming and he is thinking that the test will be extremely difficult.  He is particularly afraid of failing to break the dreaded one inch brick.  He continues to get anxious and nervous as the day of testing draws near, and in the process fails to prepare for it.  As a result, he failed to pass on his first attempt at black belt testing.

Jane on the other hand is excited that she is finally getting tested for black belt.  After all, she’ll been training many years to get to where she is now.  With the testing only weeks away, Jane prepares for the test by constantly practicing her forms, self-defense techniques, and many other things that she knows will be on the black belt test.  She thinks that no matter what happens, as long as she does her best in preparing for the test, there is really nothing to be worried about.  And if for some reason she fails, she’ll find out what to fix for the next test.

Can you tell the difference between John and Jane?  How do their attitudes differ, and which attitude is conducive towards their upcoming black belt testing?

You are correct if you noticed that Jane has a definite advantage over John, just in their outlook on things and what they are doing about their situation.  If I were to bet on who passes the test, I see Jane as having a significant advantage over John.  John has already imposed roadblocks on himself through his negative attitude, while Jane just prepares for the test.

The above is just a simple example of how victory can help in your day to day lives.  It doesn’t have to just apply to Taekwondo.  You can use it at school, at home, and anywhere else you happen to be, and under any situation.

I’m glad they, whomever they are, added victory as a tenet of Taekwondo, because with it we have hope.

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Kenneth S. Yi--a true black belt

Kenneth S. Yi–a true black belt

It is hard to believe and difficult to accept the passing of a fellow Koryo Family Taekwondo Center black belt and friend–Kenneth S. Yi.

Who is Kenneth S. Yi?

To the instructors of Koryo Family Taekwondo Center he is a caring family dentist, a sincere family friend, and the embodiment of a true black belt and martial artist.

As one of Dr. Yi’s patients, I know he takes time to meet you at his clinic’s waiting area, and once on a dental chair he’ll take time to check how things are with you and your family–showing genuine concern for everyone’s well-being.

Kenneth S. Yi is a very giving family friend.  Two years ago, after learning of my grandson’s first Christmas play, which was scheduled during the Taekwondo classes, he offered to cover the classes for me.  This allowed me to enjoy a one time only event which I would have otherwise missed.  Ken is a successful dentist and business owner.  Whenever he got a chance, he dropped words of wisdom to my kids, who are young adults, one of which has dreams of becoming a dentist as well.  Ken also openly shared with us some of his common sense business growth knowledge to help our own business.  In September 2013, when my father passed away, Ken was again there, willing to offer help to cover classes on days he was free; we never took him on that offer, but instead closed the school for the duration.  Nevertheless, this shows how much of a true friend Ken can be.

Ken embodies the characteristics of a true black belt and martial artist as he clearly abides by the six tenets of Tae Kwon Do–courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, indomitable spirit, and victory.  Although he is already a successful dentist and business owner, he treats everyone with respect and is very humble.  His word is his bond; when he says something, he does it.  He once said that if we ever needed help in covering a class to let him know; he’ll do what he can to help.  He has already proved that he keeps his word.  As a father of two kids, I’ve seen Ken take full responsibility of his children’s welfare as he and his father take time to bring the kids to classes periodically.  I would say that Ken isn’t a natural athlete, but his strong perseverance and determination carried him through the challenges he faced as he worked his way to black belt.  In my time being Ken’s instructor, I’ve never seen him lose his cool.  He is able to keep it together regardless of underlying pressure.  Our curriculum is comprehensive; it is both physically and mentally challenging; regardless, Ken set his goal for achieving the rank of 1st dan black belt, and did it.  When he trains in class, he gives it his best to the point that his uniform is soaking wet from sweat.  Because of his indomitable spirit, he is able to keep up and outpace some of the younger students.  Ken’s attitude about training radiates positive mental attitude; this helped him deal with the challenges as he journeyed his way up to black belt.  Ken is a first rate black belt; I see him on equal standing with any martial artists out there, regardless of their rank.

Kenneth S. Yi will be missed by the Koryo Family Taekwondo Center family, as well as the Forlanda family.  His passing is a great loss for everyone, but we will never forget him as his spirit lives on within all of us.

 

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Above is an example Multiplayer Minecraft Survival Game

You’ve heard about Minecraft, right?  It, or its lightweight version–Minecraft PE–is probably the top selling app on iPhone and Android phones.  It is quickly reviving the PC game market since its full capabilities are only available on PC/MAC versions.  There are some 14,000,0000 copies of the PC/MAC version out there!  That is certainly a lot of customers.

Anyway, it’s sort of difficult to describe what it is.  But… It has two game modes–creative and survival.

In creative mode, you–your character, that is–can build anything to your heart’s content.  Building is based on blocks or objects which can be built on blocks.  You could say that it is a 3D editor, in this regard, but its resolution is limited to its block-object oriented paradigm.

In survival mode, your character has to survive the dangers of the Minecraft world.  At night, or in the dark, monsters appear and attack.  Aside from these supernatural dangers, your character can also die from natural means–like drowning, burning, falling, or starvation.

Here’s the interesting thing in survival mode.  Minecraft has a built-in motivation for players in survival mode to do things by using the same natural instincts we have in true life–like hunger and fear of death.  For example, if you simply decide you wish to explore the beautiful surroundings of a Minecraft world, you will soon find out that day light turns to night.  When darkness comes, monsters spawn and attack.  If for some reason you get lucky and survive the night, your hunger meter will eventually drop down to nothing, and your life meter will dwindle down to nothing.  At this point, your character dies. What an awesome natural way to motivate a player to survive!

This same driving force will help the player get motivated to create tools to help with survival.  With tools, a player can mine resources like wood, stone, and various ores.  With resources, a player can build better tools and weapons.  With better tools and weapons, a player can create armor, more tools, farm, and even tracks and mining carts! At some point, a player can get certain resources which allows him to build powered mechanics to allow automated farming, doors, lights, and so forth.

Once a player has mastered the basics of survival, he can then start challenging himself by entering “hell”, also called “the nether.”  The nether is a barren hellish like underworld where there is an eerie athmosphere.  In higher game difficulties, the nether becomes inhabited by stronger and more dangerous monsters.  The surrounding is also filled with danger because there is no water there.  However, there is plenty of lava. An advanced player can learn to enchant his tools, giving him higher level of attack and defensive power–even the ability to swim in lava.  At this level, a player can learn to find his way to “the end” where he will face the big boss–“the ender dragon.”  Once at “the end” he cannot leave until he has defeated the ender dragon, or he dies and respawns in the overworld.

This is pretty much the rough path for player advancement in single player Minecraft.  But guess what?  Minecraft has a multiplayer capability. It is in the multiplayer capability where gamers have flocked.  Imagine playing survival mode in multiplayer Minecraft?  In this mode, players can fight against other players.  The demand for this kind of play has grown so much that Minecraft server hosting has become big business.  Many players have built their own servers so that they can have many other players play along with them in survival mode. Someone even created a survival modifications that mimic the “Hunger Games” type of fighting.  If you look and check around for hosted Minecraft servers, many of them have some version of “Hunger Games” running on them.  There are even ones that boast having over 500 players!

If you did a search on YouTube using “minecraft survival” as search terms, you will see many videos of people playing Minecraft Hunger games. It is amazing how this game has evolved.

I never really paid much attention to it until one time my curiosity got the most of me, and now I find myself playing it more often than some of our electronic-based entertainment systems or games. Today, I have all versions of the game:

  1. PC version from minecraft.net (buy direct form their site)
  2. Minecraft Pocket Edition (takes you to Amazon.com, just in case you decide you too wish to buy it)
  3. Minecraft Xbox 360 (takes you to Amazon.com, just in case you decide you too wish to buy it)

What has been your experience with Minecraft?  Comment below.