Memories

Henry’s Corner July 2011 (2)

 MEMORIES

 Dear Friends

In one of my previous contributions, I commented on the interconnectivity of our lives’ events and their complex causal relationships. Our participation in Taekwon-Do brings us some interesting experiences and I thought I would share an episode from my past.

In the mid-seventies I had the opportunity to travel to Ethiopia in Africa. I was a teenager attending Sydney Boys High School and very dedicated to my training in Tae Kwon Do under Master Young Ku Yun at the Australian Tae Kwon Do Academy in Sydney. My father was posted to Ethiopia as the South Korean Ambassador after having served as Consul General in Sydney and my sister and I went to visit our parents in Addis Ababa (capital city of Ethiopia) during our summer holidays.

It was one of the more exotic places I would have the pleasure of visiting and I looked forward to seeing my parents and anticipated an adventurous time. The flight into Addis Ababa was itself a bit of an adventure. My sister and I were flying Ethiopian Airlines and the entire cabin was full of Chinese people in their Mao uniforms. I am guessing they were some sort of government delegation from communist China on an official visit to Ethiopia. They were all staring at us stony-faced and were probably wondering what these two offspring of capitalism were doing.

Addis Ababa is seven thousand feet above sea level and has a shortage of oxygen. No need to go anywhere else to do high altitude training! This is probably one of the reasons why Ethiopia has produced some world class marathon runners. Until I got acclimatised, I was developing headaches when I worked out and I noticed the locals had a habit of gasping for air when they spoke.

I could go on forever describing my experiences there, but since this is not a travel diary I am writing, I will exercise the self control Tae Kwon Do practitioners are supposed to have and desist.

 My father informed me during my stay there that an American diplomat, the Second Secretary at the American Embassy, is a fifth degree black belt in Taekwon-Do and has invited me to attend his class which he conducts at the American International School. His name was Robert Walson and I later learnt that he was considered by General Choi Hong Hi to be one of the foremost authorities on American Taekwon-Do at the time. Mr. Walson, in fact, helped General Choi Hong Hi write the comprehensive book on Taekwon-Do which was first published in 1972 and there is a picture of him with General Choi Hong Hi in the beginning of the book.

I was a first degree black belt at the time and, when I got to his class, Mr Walson wanted me to help him conduct his class. I did this with pleasure and one of the things he wanted me to do was demonstrate various jumping kicks to his students since he was unable to do them due to an injury to his ankle. I missed the bag with just one of them, which was the jumping back kick. Mr Walson was kind enough to tell the class that this was the most difficult of all the kicks. A jumping back kick is one of Master Daher’s favourite kicks and I am sure, if he had done it, he would have kicked the bag off its chain.

Some of us were invited back to Mr. Walson’s house after the class and, as we were talking in his living room, the cries of hyenas in the bushes nearby reminded me of which part of the world I was in.

When I look back on this experience, I realise how Taekwon-Do had already gained so much popularity and reached the far corners of the world.

The task ahead is to protect the essence of Taekwon-Do and not allow any rogue elements to corrupt the spirit of the art. The moral culture of Tae Kwon Do has to be maintained and developed. There is a unifying force in Taekwon-Do because it contains values which transcend all races and nationalities but perhaps we can dwell on this further some other time.

Have you ever considered the emotional content of all the moves you make in a dojang? Have you ever wondered what drives that kick and punch? Have you ever pondered upon the significance of those physical actions? We also need to contemplate on these issues sometime.

May we bring about peace and harmony through the practice of our art.