[BC] UC essay prompt#2

    For a huge majority of my prepubescent years, I was an immature, obnoxious brat that did not understand what “respect” meant. I had the entire playground under my thumb and I believed everything I did was correct. I freely pushed my weight around. However, all of this soon changed when my parents enrolled into a local Chinese school. I enrolled into taekwondo, a popular Korean martial art, as an elective after my classes. I originally thought it would be beneficial to know self-defense, but martial arts are not that simple. Martial arts do not only teach self-defense; the discipline, strength and respect are all valuable life lessons.

All taekwondo students begin with the beginner white belt, my first lesson of discipline. Thrown into competition, students who had more advanced belts could exercise their dominance freely. However, bullying was not a problem; the Master regulated behavior among the advanced students. We were taught how to punch, kick, and simple techniques, and we were punished for minuscule details. This taught me perfection and to put full effort into everything I did. It refined my views of half-hearted work. I completely agree that all tasks should be completed with full effort.

As we did our daily drills of our punches and kicks, we were taught to yell after every completed rep. The first week of class was extremely embarrassing. I imagined us as a group of little kids just moving in unison and yelling nonsense. We were told that yelling is a sign of strength, release and power. This has been scientifically proven that yelling can produce more force, but the iron will and strength that has been forged within me has proven more significant than any amount of force I could produce. It improved my confidence; I punched hard, and fast with a smile on my face.

I eventually progressed to my green belt examination, and sparring with another person was the requirement I was not familiar with. As an orange belt, my legs shook as they announced my opponent was a green belt who was also having his blue belt exam. The chubby boy had weight, height, speed and experience on me. To impress the exam supervisors, points are scored by successfully landing kicks to your opponents sides and chest. My fellow classmate who has the red belt before the black gave me some advice: let him punch me and to parry his kicks. Anyone who would take this advice is a fool; who would let someone punch them? However, as I advanced through the hierarchy of taekwondo, she has earned an extreme amount of respect from me. I did as she said, punches penetrated my defensive stance, but his kicks proved unsuccessful. I felt defeated: my morale destroyed, landed only about three good kicks on him. After the round, we shook hands.

I never heard of my round, pudgy opponent again, but I did receive my green belt a week later. Despite the joy and life lessons that were included in the class, I soon quit due to school work. However, the life lessons learned will stay with me forever.