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Reply. It is good to be skeptical; skeptics are seldom fooled. However, sometimes the skepticism leads to vindication of the item in question instead of conviction. When analyzing this video, you should:

• Consider the source. This appears to be a clip from a news service. Although there are exceptions, most reporters verify their information.

• Consider any motivation for faking it. For it to be a fake, someone would have had to go to a lot of trouble for only a few seconds of video.

• Consider what an ordinary person might do under the same circumstances. In court, a jury is not supposed to consider what they might do, or what an expert might do under the same circumstance; they are to consider what an ordinary person might do under the same circumstance.

  The clip is shown in slow motion; the entire confrontation actually only took a few seconds and the aiming and firing of the weapon only took a split second. Although the law says that a spit second of aiming and firing is all the thought that is required for premeditated murder, it is not enough time for a victim to react, even if he is martial art master. Think about your last sparring match. After the match, you probably thought, “Why did I do that? I should have reacted to that attack differently.” Think about a clash during a match; how much thinking did you do during the clash? You probably did not consciously think during that couple of seconds, and you are a trained fighter who knew what he was getting into and was prepared for it. What can you expect an untrained fighter to do when suddenly thrown into a life or death struggle?

  It is difficult enough for one person to do the right thing, now try to get four people to do the right thing at the right time. Even if you know what to do, such as grabbing an arm, one of the other people may pull the person away before you can grab it.

  When fatally shot it in head, you do not grab your head or stagger backward, you just collapse to the floor—you are dead—there is no muscular tension in the body so it limply collapses, just as in the video.

  Have you even been near a revolver when it is fired? Smoke and unburned gunpowder blast out the muzzle in a large cone shape that spreads to the sides, and they blast out the side of the weapon between the front of the cylinder and the back of the barrel. This blast can burn and temporarily or permanently blind as person close to the weapon as it fires. The sound a gunshot is deafening, especially in an enclosed space and near your ears. This is not the sound of a blank fired in television show or a movie with the sound reproduction limitations of the medium, it is the sharp, tremendously loud sound of a large amount of gunpowder exploding. The sound will cause your ears to shut down and your brain to freeze for a split second; then your ears will ring for hours. It is difficult to think in this type of situation.

• Consider the how the information is being presented. To be able to record 24 a day and be able to save the recordings economically, surveillance cameras have low resolution and record at a slow frames-per-second, therefore, their images are poor, and there are gaps in the action. Contrary to what you see on CSI type television shows, you cannot magnify a low-resolution image to see more details. For example, try to magnify a cell phone camera image as you would an image from a digital camera. The slow frames-per-second recoding rate means the video is jumpy and sometimes omits critical actions.

• Search for collaborative information. In this case, check out Malcolm Pearsall’s conviction at:

  http://www.mtpleasantdc.org/forum/download.php?id=89&sid=d7b4dd5125693daf7b3e7ac9c0ed9f41

If you slow motion or freeze a video of a sparring match, you will see a kick headed toward the opponent’s head and wonder why the opponent did not block the kick. In real time, things do not happen in slow motion. If you could stop time, everyone could make the right decision.

As trained fighters, we know that, in this situation, one person should have grabbed and controlled the gun by grabbing the cylinder and hammer and twisting it, while the others beat the crap out of the attacker, bashing his head into the floor, jabbing fingers into his eyes, ripping his ears off, and bashing his face with elbow strikes. The gun can kill, but not without the trigger being pulled. If the attacker is unconscious or dead, he will not be pulling any trigger.

If the robber wanted to kill, he would have shot everyone at the beginning and took their money, not just threatened them. It was the reactions of the men that got them killed. If they had just given the robber their money, they would all be alive. If you are going to resist, you had better know what you are doing; unless you know the attacker intends to kill you, which means you need to do any and everything you can to resist.

After scrutinizing this video, it appears to be legitimate. It shows how your life may end, or be forever altered, by a decision that has to be made in a split-second under extraordinary circumstances.

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Reply.  So many people go though their lives thinking that merely being alive and having babies is the purpose of life. Thankfully, there are people who think life is not a gift but an obligation. They do not simply exist, they try to make a positive impact on the world. Even through some people may not agree with General Choi’s politics or his views on Taekwondo, he achieved a lot during his lifetime, and he had a positive impact on the world. Here is some advice on your listed concerns.

1. It appears that you have a good Taekwondo instructor. While it appears you want to be a great Taekwondo performer, he wants you to be a great Taekwondo martial artist. If you rely on your athleticism to achieve greatness, you may achieve it, but as the athleticism fades, so will your greatness; then, at some point in your life, probably too early, you will become another “has been.” However, if you strive to become a great martial artist, your greatness will never fade; it will just evolve. As your physical abilities fade, your experience, knowledge, and lifelong training for perfection will take up the slack and you will still be able to maintain your greatness. In Genera Choi’s last years, his physical ability faded, but he was still sought for his wisdom and knowledge.

You do not reach greatness; it comes to you as you work to be the best you can be. The more you work and the closer you come to greatness, the less that reaching it means to you. It is not reaching the destination that means the most in life, it is how you live your life during the journey.

2. As I said in my answer to one of the questions in your last correspondence, you have to decide what you want to do: be a martial artist, or be something else. If you want to be a martial artist, it takes lots of practice; if you want to be a great martial artist, it takes lots and lots of long tedious practice. Tiger Woods still spends hours on the putting green practicing his putt. Great musicians still practice their scales. They realize the importance of practicing the basics,

If you want to do tricks, there are martial art schools that teach tricks. If you want to be a martial arts choreographer, you do not need to be a great martial artist. Choreography is nothing like combat, it more similar to dancing. There are schools that teach fighting choreography if that is what you want to do.

Patience is not something you can take a class to learn; you either have it or you do not have it. If you do not have it, no amount of wanting it or hounding by others will help you get it. You may improve it, but it is just not part of your personality. If you are an impatient person, you just learn to live with it, and others that want to get along with you will have to accept it. You will have to do things that do not require patience; otherwise, even if you do find success, you will not be able to enjoy it.

I too am an impatient person. I have to be doing something all the time; I consider the need for sleep to be a nuisance. I find that I am most impatient when doing something that I do not enjoy doing. When I enjoy doing something, hours pass without my realizing it. People wonder how and why I spend so much time on the web site; it is because I am creating and I enjoy it. I enjoy Taekwondo, so I train on perfecting the basics everyday.

3. When you reach black belt rank, you will probably be able to hold an extended kick that way. However, that is not the way General Choi envisioned Taekwondo kicks. Taekwondo was formed by a group of masters who were mostly ex or current military. It was created as a Korean way of hand-to-hand combat, not as a way of performing.

Flexibility and power are not necessarily complementary. I have seen highly flexible people who could not kick high, especially with any power, because they did not have the overall muscular strength required to lift the leg quickly and with power. I have seen very powerful kickers who did not have the flexibility to kick high. Sport Taekwondo fighters kick to head, not just because it gives them more points, but mainly because the rules make it easy for them to kick high. Mixed martial artists rarely use high kicks. When an opponent can punch, grab, and use takedowns, high kicks are dangerous. In the street, high kicks will get you killed. Quick, powerful, focused, and accurate kicks that may be fired without any warning are more important than high kicks.

Do not be so concerned with flexibility. When doing conventional stretching exercises, my instructor is not very flexible. I am more flexible than he is and I am 30 years older than he is. However, he can perform high, near perfect kicks (I cannot). His flexibility comes from years of trying to perform perfect kicks. He is only flexible where he needs to be flexible to perform proper kicks. His philosophy appears to be, “I am a professional Taekwondo instructor; that is what I do. Therefore, I do that which makes me a better at what I do. I do not have the time to do, nor do I see a need to do, things that do not make me better at what I do.”

As to your apology for your spelling errors, it appears your misspelling and poor grammar are a reflection of your impatience. Dictionaries and spell checkers make everyone a good speller, as long as they take the time to use them..

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Reply. Thank your for your kind comments about my web site. I am glad it has been of service to you.

You are right! We have become a society that expects instantaneous gratification. People want the glory, but they either do not want to do want it takes to earn it, or they do not have the patience to wait for it. One recent reader was lamenting that, after 9 months in Taekwondo, he still cannot do full spits or trick kicks as some masters are able to do.

Ranks are steps that indicate progression along a stairway toward the top; they are not destinations in themselves. Basically, rank only indicates how long you have been on the journey; they just indicate how many steps you have taken on your climb toward the stop. After a certain amount of time climbing, you are expected to have reached a certain step in the climb, but reaching that step is nothing special other than it indicates you are still climbing.

Similar to ranks, birthdays are steps in one’s lifetime. I turned 61 recently. Suddenly I was a year older, even though I was only a day older than the day before. Reaching another birthday is not an accomplishment in itself; what is important is what you have done with your life while reaching that step. If life is a journey, then the end of that journey is—death. So the end of the journey is not something you want to reach, it is just something that you are forced to near as you climb. If you quit climbing, your journey will end, and, just as if you were on an escalator, the stairs themselves will carry you very quickly toward the final destination but the arrival will not be pleasant one. However, if you keep climbing, as you reach the end, you will have the joy having completed a meaningful climb.

Some think that taking a step is some great achievement. They stand on the step, look down on all those on the steps below them, and feel superior. Instead, they need to turn around see the long climb that still remains ahead of them, and keep climbing. Sometimes, people on the lower steps will grab you and try to hold you back, but thankfully, there are those on the higher steps who will reach down and help pull you up to the next step.

For the ones who see the light at the top of the stairs, they know that reaching the top is not the ultimate goal; it is the climb that is most important. As one nears the perceived top of the stairs, the top is no longer important; the last step is just another step. For the great ones, there is never a top of the stairs. As they look up the stairway, they see an endless string of steps leading into a bright light. As they draw their last breath, they are still struggling for the next step.

As I mentioned before, I turned 61 recently, and my best birthday present was sparring in class last night. First of all, it was great to be able to spar, then it was great being able to effectively spar students 20, 30, and 40 years younger than I am. I can do it not because of great athletic ability, but because of technique. I train everyday on the heavy bag perfecting technique and control. This allows me to be able to jump all over an opponent with quick strikes that come too fast to block and are so powerful they cannot be knocked away, and yet they are so controlled that they never do harm.

If you concentrate on perfecting techniques, you will not get instant gratification while sparring. In fact, you will probably get beat a lot because, even though your opponent’s attacks may be sloppy, they still score. However, the problem with sloppy techniques is that they stay sloppy. If you improve a sloppy technique, it only means that it will get sloppier. However, when a good technique improves, it becomes closer to perfection. If you persist at trying to perform perfect techniques, at some point your techniques will start to overwhelm sloppy techniques and you win every fight.

Watching an artisan at work is inspiring; seeing perfection at work brings tears to your eyes. I have watched my instructor spar many times so I know he is good, but one time I went with him to a rank testing in another city. Two 20-something black belts were testing, and they were good; they were whipping up on all the other testing students. The head instructor of the testing asked my instructor to spar them. It was a beautiful thing to behold. As he sparred each of them, he picked them apart with powerful, clean, perfectly focused techniques as a vulture would pick apart road kill. He did not hurt them, but they were completely demoralized; they knew they had a lot more to learn.

You have the right attitude. Keep climbing toward the light, and hopefully, you will—never reach the top.

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Reply.

Question 1: How can I improve my control when sparring?

In two words, practice and experience! To have good control, practice using good control. The first time you tried to touch your nose as a baby, you probably poked yourself in the eye. Now you can do it with the slightest touch, even in the dark or with your eyes closed.

Sport Taekwondo does not train for control as much as does traditional Taekwondo, so most sport students do not have much control. If you train for control, you may hit soft, or hit hard; whereas, if you only train to hit hard, you will have difficulty hitting soft.

To get better control, train everyday on a heavy bag striking with punches and kicks. Strike with full power and speed, but only touch the bag. Practice while moving and while using combinations. Stay relaxed as if you were a marionette being held up by strings and would collapse in a pile on the floor if the strings were released. As you move about your house, strike at various objects with focus and control (be careful however, I have broken various things, including my hands, while doing this in the past). Consider a perfect technique as one that is perfectly formed, is delivered with power and speed, and which stops at a precise point in space.

Plains Indians considered being touched with a coup stick during battle to be a fate worse than being bashed with a tomahawk. Opponents respect perfectly executed techniques that, although did not touch them, could have harmed them if you had so desired.

Question 2: What is the best way to improve my flexibility? 

First, you have to decide what you want to be good at doing, Taekwondo, or yoga. If you want to have good overall flexibility, then practice yoga stretches and postures. If you want to be good at doing Taekwondo, practice kicking and the movements involved in kicking. Only people who are born with super flexible joints are able to do full 180-degree spits, everyone else should only expect about 160 degrees as a maximum. To kick effectively, you must have some joint flexibility for speed, muscle tone for power, proper technique, and enough training so that all movements are committed to muscle memory. Which would you rather be able to do, kick straight up, which is useless, or kick straight out with enough power to punch a hole in a brick wall?

To practice kicking movements, hold on to something and perform slow, perfect kicks. Put your foot on some high object, hold the foot, leg, and body in perfect position, and then bend the support leg to stretch the muscles. Perform slow kicks with leg weights. Do not kick at sparring speed with leg weights; you are then training your body to kick with weights so it will be learning incorrect movements.

To get ready for the tournament, train daily. This does not mean doing the same thing everyday or spending hours training everyday. It just means that each day you should repeat numerous times all the things that make you good at Taekwondo. Punch and kick on a bag for a few minutes with focus, power, and control; do some weight training or other strength building exercises, jump to strengthen the legs, do sprints (not distance running) to build endurance for fighting in spurts, practice your forms in the same way you want to perform them in competition, and, when not training, think about the motions you should do to perform perfect techniques.

For a person to be good at anything takes time and lot of work. To be great at something physical, you have to be born with the right physical makeup, and then you build upon it. If you do not have the genetic makeup needed for physical greatness, you may still work to become the best that you can be.

To be great at anything, you must have the ability to become great at it. Do not except to become great at something just because you want to great at it. Find out what you are good at, and then work to become great at it. You may become great at Taekwondo, or, due to your physical makeup, you may never become great at Taekwondo, but could have been great at some other martial art, such as Judo.

Work hard at Taekwondo but keep your priorities straight. Work harder at what will make you successful in life more than you work at something that merely gives you pleasure.

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