Living a Day Mute

One of our Junior Students by the name of Soham Basu decided to live a day mute and to make that part of his next belt test. At Johnson's TaeKwonDo & Leadership Academy, we call this empathy training. Random House defines empathy as "the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another. "

To teach empathy involves getting the student to identify with another person...to understand what it would be like to walk in their shoes. This is what Soham set out to do as part of his martial arts training-an exercise that gave Soham a new outlook on those with disabilities.

Soham Basu took 3 attempts to achieve his goal of refraining from speech for one whole day. Soham said in his essay, "My first attempt failed in late morning and then the second attempt lasted a little longer till mid-afternoon.  First time I failed because I was asked a question and I replied in by speaking. Next attempt failed because I called out my sister to help my solving a 300 pieces puzzle."

Finally, due to Soham's persistence, he succeeded on the 3rd day. Soham learned some valuable lessons through this process. "I can imagine how tough a mute kid’s life is – growing up and learning at school. They need special care and teaching tools.  They have to write down every question they have for their teachers.  For a kid, like me who always has lots to questions, I would have a tough time."

Great Job Soham Basu for showing us how to make our martial arts training embody the body, mind, and spirit!

My Journey by Rishi Sundaresan-Johnson's Student

Taekwondo Essay on the martial arts journey by Rishi Sundaresan

                Everyone has a goal in his/her life, and they have a process to achieve it. The process can take days, weeks, months, years, or decades. If one wants to do well on a test in a few days, the process will take a few days. Martin Luther King’s Goal of African Americans having equal rights as Whites took years to accomplish. Overseas, Mahatma Gandhi’s goal of India being free from the British took about a decade to achieve. My goal in Taekwondo was to achieve a black belt, and the process did begin when I was a White belt, but I will narrate the process from Senior Red belt since that the 2 months prior to testing for a Black belt was the most exciting and challenging part of the process.

                As a Red belt, when I was testing for a Senior Red belt, I saw a myriad of students no-changed testing for Black belt. From that point, I knew that the next testing for me wouldn’t be easy. For the first month, I went to classes and learned how to master Fire Form and sparring. I did practice at home, but not that much. After my interview, I went to 14 classes prior to testing. I worked hard in class and at home, working on my form, board-breaking, sparring, and flexibility. One challenge I faced was that my stances didn’t look good and were too short. I worked hard and effectively on that to fix it. I went to two private classes instead of only one. Finally, it was time to test.

                Even though I got a no-change in primary testing because my belt wasn’t tied right, I still worked over the weekend on my forms and board breaking. It took me about 2 minutes to find out that my belt was on the right way except for one part. I did pass secondary testing, and so my goal was achieved. I learned from this experience that one can achieve any goal if he/she works hard enough.

Tejas Sundaresan-Star Academic Student, Star Martial Artist

Service Project by Tejas Sundaresan

            Recently, on June 26, I went to the Ronald McDonald House of Durham along with a group of my peers from a summer camp. We cooked breakfast for the residents of the house supplying a meal consisting of household favorites, including pancakes, fruits, orange juice, and muffins.

            Although no serious and overwhelming challenges faced us, we did have to overcome minor difficulties. One of the more memorable challenges included communicating with a resident who spoke no English, only Spanish. I strained the three years of middle and high school Spanish I had learned in school in a dialogue analogous to a struggling and stuttering four-year old talking to an experienced literature professor. Despite the enormous disparity between our vocabularies, we were able to communicate effectively on a topic we both enjoyed, la Copa Mundial, or World Cup. We talked endlessly about possible victors and who will win the golden boot or player of the tournament. Such an experience serves to demonstrate that no matter how different we are, we still are all the same.

            The Ronald McDonald House was a truly elucidating experience for me. Not only did I improve my communication skills and work on my pancakes, but also I understood the diversity of the world. Yet, I also apprehended the opposite, that we are all the same. Although my Hispanic acquaintance and I came from very different cultures from opposite parts of the world, we still were able to traverse the formidable cultural gap with soccer as our bridge. 

Journey of my Leadership Project-a 9 year old

     My name is Renuka Dabli. I am 9 years old. I am in 4th grade, and a student of Johnson’s Taekwondo. I am testing for black belt and I am doing a leadership project to educate people on how to prevent diabetes. I chose this topic because my dad has diabetes and I am seeing very closely how tough life becomes when one has diabetes.

     Diabetes is a disease in which a person gets high blood sugar. There are 2 types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2. Diabetes can seriously affect all organs of your body.

     Because diabetes is a disease mostly caused by lifestyle and heredity, steps can be taken to prevent it. So I decided to spread the word about diabetes. I made slides and presented them at leadership hour. The people who helped me and motivated me were Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Lewitt, Mrs. Fernandez and my mom. All other instructors and people present at leadership hour also gave me suggestions.

     Next I improved my work and added additional slides in my presentation. I am still working on my project and my goal is to reach 1,000 people and make them aware of the disease. I am requesting my audience in each of my presentation to take my message forward to many more people who can still take it further. This way there will be a chain of messengers and the message will reach out to more than 1000 people. My target is to reach at least 1000 people to begin with.

     I can’t tell when I will be reaching my goal, but I will keep trying. After all, perseverance is a quality that is a must for a Johnson’s taekwondo  student.

A Personal Victory by Vishnu Gottiparthy

One of our young students talks about a personal victory of his...He used the tenet perseverance to achieve his goal.

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I have been on a cricket team for a few months now.  We play against one other team in our league.  In the first few games we had, we lost.  As a team, we all set goals as individuals, so that we can each improve in the areas we are weaker in, and better our team on the whole.  My first goal was to be able to prevent any balls from crossing the boundary of the field behind the batsman.  My second goal was to be able to hit a few balls without getting out when I was batting.  To achieve my goal, I had to go to every practice I could, and give my 100% every time.  I played cricket at home, too, so I could get even more practice.  A few challenges I faced were time limits on practices, so some days some people couldn’t practice on certain positions, bad weather because we can’t play in the rain, and more losses in games because of the emotional impact on the team.  Over the course of a few months, I accomplished both of my goals.  In our fourth game, we lost by only one run.  Finally, after two more weeks, we managed to win, and by a very large margin.  A few of the lessons I learned were that practice is very important, no matter what you do, and perseverance pays off in the end.

The Journey has its Hills and Valleys...The Key is Perseverance.

Jimmy Loo has been a student at Johnson's for over 3 years. He was committed from the very first class that he was here. It helped that there was another adult male who was getting strated at the same time as him. Jimmy is one of these guys who gives 100% one hundred percent of the time. To look at his training card, you would think it was a Christmas tree with all of the red marks on it. (red marks are good. They mean that he went to class that day!)

 

There are 1825 days in 5 years.

Now, we all know that eating a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables is one of the keys to a higher quality of life. Everyone also seems to know that physical activity of at least 30 minutes a day will make them feel better, seem less tired, and help with their concentration. I can go on to say that every body who drinks, smokes, and raids the coffee machine 10 times daily all pretty much know the same things and have access to the same information regarding their health.

Why is it then that more people are not living like champions? 'Cause it is pretty darn hard! Between work, school, taking care of the kids, homework, mowing the lawn, and getting the kids to violin practice, We are lucky to be able to drop by the local fast-food franchise for a quick supper. Do not even mention exercise! I am too tired to exercise!! And so the daily grind starts over and over for you each day and finishes about the same-with a sense of unfulfillment. This is how people get into this so called "rut" they talk about. What's worse? Our children absorb every thing we say and do and are forming bad habits as I speak.

I see how fit someone looks when they have been eating well, hitting the gym, and staying away from all those nasty vices. Why then do I still struggle with my sweet tooth, the motivation to train, and why do some people still smoke 6 packs of cigarettes a day. It is a matter of will-power and self-discipline-all qualities and taits that we are developing as martial artists and teachers.

We have all heard our friends and relatives who we constantly are trying to bring to the gym, quit smoking, and to eat better say that they could quit any time. They could eat better if they wanted to. Maybe tomorrow. Some people just do not want to change. AND that's ok.

I am speaking to those who wish to take control of their lives and really live like the champions that they know they can be.

Shifting gears a little bit, I am going to speak solely as the passionate, forward-thinking martial artist that I am and let you in on what ideas I have been kicking around lately. One of my mentors by the name of Tom Callos wrote recently that "There are 1825 days in 5 years." He goes on to say that "You sit down to at least 5475 meals in those 5 years." He was speaking in regards to the way martial artists should look at their black belt test, and that "The very next meal you eat is an opportunity to practice the art of living as a martial artist." Think about that a moment. If we treated every meal we eat like a black belt test, would we be eating the same food, and if we treated every interaction with our mom, dad, or spouse like it was part of our black belt test, would we treat them differently than before.   

This is not the "new way" to approach your martial arts training for your black belt or your next black belt test. It really is the "old way". In this day and age, we demand the latest technology, and we think that if something is old, it is out of date. However, I am working alongside some very inspiring and committed individuals to change back some of the things that the martial arts industry has done to the "black belt" concept-the very ,meaning of having a black belt and being a black belt. It seems that the black belt has lost its value due to the sales-driven strategies of some instructors. Anyone who knows our school and the way it operates, we do not think about sales first, but only as a necessity of earning a living.  Anyways back to my original topic on there being 1825 days in 5 years.

I want for all of you to commit to living like champions. I am raising a challenge to you! Use everyday as your black belt test. Use every meal as your black belt test. Use every conversation as your black belt test. And let's make the black belt mean 1.) more than just physical skill (you must have extraordinary physical skills by the way) 2.) a student that is committed to changing the world (You must transform yourself before you change the world!) 3.) a person who does not only think about herself, but who thinks about what they can do to help others.