The Power to Act

Archive for May, 2012

I got the news this week – I test for my First Degree Black Belt Certification in less than fourteen days.  It’s got my Black Belt a year ago in April and I’ve known it would happen before year end, but I never expected it to happen so quickly, so now.

Usually, I show up for my Tuesday Tae Kwon Do class ready for our routine to begin. Once in the door of the Do-Jang (school), I wait for the Grandmaster to pop out of his office, I’d bow and formally greet him, and then I saunter to the dressing room to change into my Do-Bok (uniform) and begin to warm-up, practicing my patterns, kicks, and defensive and offensive strikes.

But today was anything but usual. When I entered, Grandmaster Cho was waiting for me.  We exchanged formal greetings, but then he welcomed me into his office and pointed to a paper lying on the corner of his desk.  His gnarly fingers, deformed from years of breaking cement blocks, tenderly held a pen for me to use.  In contrast to his clipped words, “You fill this out,” was the warmth of his smile, as he spoke the words that I thought would come in July or August. There in front of my eyes, Read the rest of this entry »