There is a time and a place for fantasy, and I believe it is called “Fan
Fiction”…Joss Whedon
I know that I have spoken at length regarding the way that modern TKD seems to be shown and taught, and that is that the martial aspects have been subsumed by the sport. I know that I am not alone in this regard, but that is not really the point here. I believe that this problem exists in almost all of the civilian “martial arts” as usually presented. I understand that many schools survive on enrolling children and have no issue with that but I am concerned primarily with adult practitioners.
“I am walking down the street in broad daylight and I see the bad guy approaching me. He is moving slowly enough for me to process everything. I have had a good night’s sleep, did my stretching this morning, and have my shoes on.”
We all train for that one moment where all of our training and skills will come into play and can be used effectively. I want to believe that after 48 years of training (even though I am 74 years young) that I can do some really impressive stuff that will send the bad guy flying. Everyone around me will ask what martial style I used and where do I give classes.
If that is the scenario we envision-how much training do you really need? The US Marine’s hand to hand combat training (MCMAC) from beginner to first level black belt, consists of approximately 150 hours total. Of this, only about one third is devoted to physical skill and technique-the rest is mental (i.e. historical martial cultures) and character (moral development).
Let’s think about that. That means that, at say two hours of training a week you get it done in 2-3 months! Now I realize that I am leaving out a huge component of training and discipline here, but I think it does illustrate the larger point-that the basic physical skills are easy to transmit.
When you come right down to it your elbow strike is probably as effective as the Hung Gar or Muay-Thai practitioners is. Your punch is as good as a karate-ka or boxers.
But: “In my fantasy, I am not half drunk, I am not distracted on my phone, I am not carrying grocery bags in both arms, I have not finished arguing with my boss…” I mean, I know this will all work because my instructor trained in China-Indonesia-Korea!
I don’t know your experience, but I know that in mine, everyone was serious but courteous. We bow before sparring, if our gear slipped, we would stop, someone slipped we would wait for them to get up. I don’t think any of this is unusual in a learning environment.
Suppose we run a thought experiment about what we just discussed. We take two individuals and we send one to marine basic training and the other to a really good serious martial art school—leaving out the “McDojos”. Six months in each place. Where do you think we end up if we let them go at each other. Where do we think the essential differences would lie.
I am not trying to make a value judgement here; I am trying to suggest that differences in training attitudes make a difference.
Basic self-defense is not the same as a lifelong study of technique, body mechanics, personal self-development, and longevity. Marine combat is not something that can be practiced into your senior years.
We all had the fantasy of who we were and what we could do-especially after learning some really slick complicated technique. There is however, another world besides that one, and we need to keep it in the front of our minds because that is not what a real fight looks like.
“ All of a sudden there is a fight near me. Should (with all of my skills) go in there and help break it up?”
Well Captain America, let’s consider some implications of your action:
- Every Fight is a Fight with Death as an option.
This doesn’t mean it has to be a serious conflict. Two kid brothers can be wrestling and one falls weird-hits his head wrong-and is paralyzed or dies. Now that probably doesn’t happen, most often not, but it is a risk that you take on in any conflict.
- Do You Have Any Loved Ones in Your Life?
Most of us do. All of your loved ones are at risk in any encounter you enter. Does the wife end up a widow, the children minus one parent? It would seem that by you making that unilateral decision to dive in they are by necessity in that fight as well, right?
- It Never Happens at the Right Time.
When the tiger is surveying the zebra herd, I don’t think he is looking for the healthiest fastest young male who can provide him with some real competition. In fact, some of these animals have been known to taunt the tigers as a game. No, the tiger is trying to figure out who is the sick, frail, or just inattentive one.
We are not at our best at all times. Maybe you have to carry the child in one arm and the car seat in the other. Perhaps you have a fever, maybe you just injured your knee. These will definitely have an impact on your skills. You can’t bounce back like they do in the movies.
I remember watching action movies with an underwater scene where the hero has to hold his breath and perform some crazy task. I would sit there and hold my breath for as long as I could to see if I could hold out as long as the hero. I never could. Lenny Bruce once said “My God-the movies have ruined us all!”
4. It’s Always Raining Legalities in a Fight.
Fights always take place in the context of the law. There is no escaping that.
I may feel confident enough to say to you that if you come at me, I will drop you instantly, and maybe you decide to test it and it turns out I can and will. Great I proved that I can be proud of who I am and what I am capable of.
What if that guy had a brand-new lawyer, I mean really new. Maybe three months in practice, perhaps he has only done a few parking tickets, maybe a loitering charge. This really green inexperienced lawyer can utterly defeat me.
“My client has filed a complaint against you. We have already looked in the value of your house, we know what kind of car you have, and we are presenting this court document to you.”
They can take my money, they can take my freedom, and you know what-I have no idea how to deal with it. However, I truly know one thing-I was in the right.
I know that I am morally and ethically right. He was going to hit my child and I stepped in. My friends say I was right. My priest says I was right. Even the cameras say I was right. It should be an open and shut case.
All true, but you being right is $25 thousand dollars away from you proving you are right to the law-maybe $30 or even $50 thousand dollars away. I really don’t know.
So, but it was self-defense. Yes, but pleading self-defense in court means that you are confessing that you indeed did attempt to damage that other individual but had a good reason to do it. Now you have to convince 12 people that your side of the story is the correct one and that other guy is just making things up.
I know a Kung Fu instructor who happened to walk into a hardware store when it was being robbed and got hit with an aluminum bat. He struck back and severed the assailants clavicle.
He spent the next three years going through the court system. Having court summons dropped at vacant lots instead of to him, so that he would miss hearings. He was hit with the assailants $150 thousand dollar hospital bill, and more. He actually was cleared of all charges because he only hit the man once causing him to fall, and to the camera it just looked like he pushed him away. He was lucky. The twelve “legal scholars” on the jury understood the whole thing.
- Isn’t Half of My Art Self Defense?
Have you ever given any thought of the notion that half of my art implies that I can be a criminal? I never did. Does that mean I should never put my hands on anybody? No, there can always be situations that require it. It does however demand wisdom, calmness, and a lack of ego driven responses.
In New York City, if the police break up a fight, they basically arrest the winner. It’s not their job to figure out who was right.
- “Running is Highest Technique!”
This is a quote from one of my earliest instructors. It was said as a joke, but there is much truth in it. Not sticking around is often the best course of action. You see all of these people with their phones out filming whatever action is taking place–what happens if that escalates out of control?
Your job should be to leave the film set. Get out.
Once during a seminar in a martial art school, the instructor gave someone a training knife and said to the rest of the students that they had to protect themselves. They all got into their fighting stances and tried to battle it out with the knife–they didn’t do well.
At the end the instructor pointed to the door and asked “why didn’t any of you leave?”
They were so programmed by their martial art studies that it never occurred to them to just go out the door.
- Righteous Indignation!
Lastly, the thing that I consider the crack cocaine of emotions. It powers us up and fuels us into doing things that we ordinarily wouldn’t do. Someone once told me that they felt this emotion was responsible for killing more people than any other. Why, because deep down in your soul you know that you are right.
Really Right!!!
It feels like the best possible rocket fuel for what you are doing—but it is the worst. It makes you lose all perception of your surroundings, your empathy, and your perspective of the totality of now.
“To guard against impetuous courage” Shotokan Dojo Kun
So where do we end up? I know that the above may seem like a polemical screed to show you that everything that you have done is useless. It is not, and I don’t intend it to be. I believe that martial art schools should exist and the more people that attend, the better the world would be.
What I think bothers me is the idea of willful ignorance. I want instructors to be clear in what they are teaching, and the students to be clear in what their goals actually are and emphasize the skills and mindset that will get them there.
There is more to the study of these arts than the ability to kick a**. That should be known and treasured, but the martial aspect should be real. Not watered down enough to make it accessible but not usable. Even worse, to give people a false sense of sense of security by telling them that the technique alone will provide salvation.
Grandmaster Richard Conceicao started his Taekwondo Do training almost 48 years ago. He is an eighth Dan, certified by the Moo Duk Kwan in Korea.
He believes that all of these arts have to be judged on what is practical and what works, yet their historical and cultural value cannot be taken away without creating a severe misunderstanding of their approach and techniques. Yet too much of what made these arts effective is being lost. Master Conceicao has done his best to teach and demonstrate these subtleties to anyone who wants to enhance their art ,or at least have some fun with them.
He can be reached at Richard@Returningwavesystems.com