ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER....

Check this out; a lot of people were surprised to discover that I knew how to cook, clean and so forth. I never thought about it.  All my children know how to cook, clean and so forth.  Though nothing was ever spoken about it.

            I  didn't think twice about it, because I believed that was the way things were done.  I saw my father do it, and he never said anything about it.  It was just something that you did?  Even though for awhile, my mother was a Stay at home Mom – mostly because as a child I was very sick, she did most of the cooking and cleaning.  But when she caught a cold or something, nothing in the house changed.  My father would cook, get us ready for school and what not.  He had dinner prepared – the house never skipped a beat.

            When I became an adult I just did the same thing.  In fact, when I was in college I was shocked by the guys who didn't know how to wash their clothes!  I thought everyone knew how to do that.  They said their Mom’s did all that work.  I never thought of it as Men’s work or Women’s work.  It was what had to be done!  After all, that's what I saw my father doing.

            All of my children love to read, from novels, technical manuals, graphic novels and comic books – they all read.  I love to read.  As my eldest can tell you, there was many a time they come downstairs to the living room, find me on the floor stretching my legs, the radio or cd player going and me reading a book.  The TV was off.  I was just reading.  I also read to them when they were little.  I read TALES OF THE 1001 NIGHTS, Bullfinch’s mythology,

            So now as adults, they all love to read, be it novels, technical manuals, what have you; you can find them reading in their spare time.  All three of my children have an understanding of martial arts, my sons actually train, my daughter refuses to sweat  ‘divas don’t need to exercise or get sweaty” !!

          Yes babygirl!

         But she can tell you the difference between Tae Kwon Do, Tang So Do and Hwa Rang Do.  They can do it and like to do it because they all saw me doing it.  What I did was as important as what I said.

            It’s the same with the arts.  None of us in the EAST COAST HWA RANG DO Association who trained under Kuksa Nim Yum Ki Nam are arrogant, etc…  We all saw Kuksa Nim, a man of incredible accomplishment as well as deep humility.  He never addressed himself as Grandmaster Yum.   We saw him roll up his sleeves and get into the dirt with us when we had to clean up the Hillside dojang man, many years ago. This is a man who has spent time with world leaders, international celebrities, and is still  very humble and respectful of everyone.  Because he is that way, we, his students, his disciples, try to do the same and be respectful and humble.  I hope my students do the same.

            The old adage “action speaks louder than words” is very true.  Students will mimic and adapt what the teacher does “with a quickness”!  How often have you observed a student doing a form and you were able to identify their teacher through the way they did the form.

            On the same hand, if you are one of those complaining, whiny, loud instructors we see at tournaments; odds are your students will behave the same way when they become instructors.  No matter what you say to them, or how you tell about “fair play” and sportsmanship.

            More often, it’s what you do more so than what you say!