Fights

 

What is a fight?

A fight is different from self-defense. In self-defense, you are defending yourself against an attacker; you have no choice in the matter. In a fight, you are entering into mutual combat another person; you have chosen to fight. While you may not have been seeking a fight, if you enter into one, then you have become a willing participate in it. If one of the participants simply walks away, there would no longer be a fight. If the aggressor attacks you as you walk away and you defend yourself, you are not fighting, you are defending yourself.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo was developed as a self-defense martial art; meaning it was developed as way to protect oneself from an attack, not to be an attacker. Modern Taekwondo is much different from the way it was when it was developed in the 1950's when a martial art was viewed as a method of combat and way of life. Today, combat is considered politically incorrect; aggression, even in self-defense, is considered inappropriate.

Modern Taekwondo has become a sport with an emphasis on competition, fitness, and fun. It is a business focused on profit, which means its emphasis is on getting and retaining paying students, mostly children. To keep students, mostly children, standards have been lowered and combat is seldom, if ever, emphasized, so most of today's "black belts" are sports players not warriors.