Mat Chat: Integrity

We have 5 tenets of Taekwondo. They include:

Courtesy 여의 ye-wee

Integrity 염치 yom-chee

Perseverance 인냬 ee-nay

Self-Control 극기 gook gee

Indomitable Spirit 백절불굴 beckjool boolgool

“the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.”

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

This is a big one!

Integrity helps to guide the martial artist when deciding if and when to use their skills to protect themselves or protect the weak. Did you try everything you could to avoid confrontation?

Practitioners who learn martial arts will keep their word not to abuse their knowledge of the art. At my dojang, we have an oath we say at every belt promotion ceremony. One of the lines goes like this:

“To put the art into use only for self-defence or defence of the weak, and never to abuse my knowledge of the art.”

Integrity means doing the right thing when no one is looking.

Integrity is shown by promising not to hurt each other on purpose when we spar. When we bow to begin a self defence drill, pad work, or a sparring match we can choose to show integrity in our actions or not.

Integrity is honour in actions, integrity is something we chose to show in everything we do throughout our day.

Do you inspire trust?

Do you stand for honour?

Do you match what you do, with what you say?

Honesty is telling the truth, integrity is matching our words to reality.

Integrity is having a conscience; it’s about acutely feeling the difference between right and wrong.

Integrity could be reflected in the taekwondo instructor themselves, for example if they present improper techniques or teach the techniques wrong because of ‘apathy’ or lack of knowledge on their part.. or maybe an instructor who promotes the art for materialistic gains.

Even the masters 관장님 and instructors 사범님 are not free of this tenet of Taekwondo.

Now, how could we explain integrity to a five year old child?

1. Tell the truth, even if you’ll get in trouble.
2. Know right from wrong.
3. Always do the right thing, even if it isn’t cool!

Train hard, show Integrity in all you do.

See you on the mats.👊