Attitudes that Pay Off
(letter from a Black Belt Master)

Artigos motivacionais servem não apenas para motivar você no dia a dia, mas também para ajudar você a praticar inglês com mais vocabulário, expressões, construções gramaticais e "questionamento". É importante questionar o que você lê e aprende. Dúvidas? Ask LEP!

As a member of a Tae Kwon Do Academy I receive interesting newsletters about behavior, attitude, emotional balance, and so on. These are some of the principles of Martial arts. The text that follows is a letter written by a Korean master. His name is An, he's a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and also my instructor in UBC (another modality in the academy). I have his permission and I want to share his thoughts with you, for two reasons: the message in his letter is a good one, and this is also an opportunity for you to practice your English. Enjoy your reading!

"Dear UBC Members,

"Yesterday one of my students, who is Asian, asked me if he could have a private meeting with me. He has been with me for a long time and this is the first time he ever asked if he could talk with me. He usually is pretty quiet and a very steady student who gives his best when he is in class. This is what he shared with me: 'Master An, this kid at my school has been bothering me a lot. I don’t do anything to provoke him, but the things he says to me bothers me very much. He makes many racial remarks to humiliate me. I am not sure why he does it, but it is getting to the point where I can’t take it anymore. What should I do?'

"As he was saying this to me my past came into my mind. You see, when I first came to America all I knew how to say was 'yes' or 'no'. Oh, I also knew how to say, 'How are you?' That was about it. I had to pretty much guess when I should say yes and when I should say no when people were talking to me because I had no idea what they were saying to me. It would be like one of you getting dropped off in a high school in Vietnam tomorrow and you’d be expected to keep up with all those Vietnamese students.

"When I first came here there were hardly any foreign students or any second language support. In fact, I was the only and first Asian student in that high school. Most students in the school could only relate an Asian student to 'Japs', meaning the Japanese people. Here is one of my many experiences I had while in high school.

"There was this kid who made my life at that school miserable. It was so miserable that I dreaded going to school every day. I even dreaded the bus ride to school. You see, I was no different than any other high school kid who was going through puberty dazed and confused. I just wanted to go back home to Korea. He was calling me all kinds of names, from racial comments to being stupid. You see, my English was so bad that I was pretty much like a deaf person. I am sure I looked dumb and stupid too. I knew what he said meant, but I didn’t know what words to say back. I also knew I could not fight him either since I knew that would dishonor my mother and my family. Many of you probably have no idea what my family had to go through to send me to school in America. It cost my family all their life savings and more. I still remember my mother holding me with tearful eyes calling my name and literally passing out at the airport while I was getting on the plane at the Kimpo airport in Korea. I was literally torn apart for a long time. It was one of my many toughest parts of my life.

"Long story short, that kid went on his way and I went on mine. Guess what? I was at this TKD testing in Michigan as a test review board member many years ago. There was this man who looked so familiar to me. He was testing to become a 1st degree black belt and I was holding his testing paper. I asked him what high school he went to during the oral question session. I didn’t ask any more questions. He came to me after the test and asked me why I asked him what high school he attended. I asked him if he remembered an Asian kid name SOP in that high school. He just froze with big huge eyes and said, 'Oh My God!!' Yes, that was me. That stupid kid, yellow Jap, and gook, named SOP was the kid everyone calls An now.

"I told my student, yesterday, that there will always be people who will make negative remarks toward you. There will even be some people who would like to see you fail. Life will not be a smooth highway. It will have lots of bumps, twists, turns, and even stops along the way. Winners in life are the ones who stay steady regardless of how many bumps, turns, and stops they face. Life rewards people who work hard and stay the course. I think my student understood.

"Oh, by the way – I did grant my high school friend a 1st degree black belt!"

An
Tae Kwon Do Master, Rockford Academy of Tae Kwon Do

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