I’m feeling a bit bored and in the mood to write something. I just thought of one that I would write about. I recently went to see Taekwondo show in Seoul and was somewhat surprised to see how well-choreographed it was. The accompanying music was pretty good too and the show would have been a lot more boring without any music. One scene that I particularly enjoyed was the fight between one lady and two guys. Obviously, it was choreographed but it was nice to see a lady throwing kicks and punches to the guys in a fast rapid manner. In the beginning, a group of young age ranging from 8 years olds to 13 years olds came out on the stage and exhibited different movements and some various moves. Then, they brought out the wood blocks and started throwing kicks and break the wood. Apparently, it wouldn’t be any taekwondo without those. Wood blocks started to fly out into broken halves and onto the stage and sometimes, the floor underneath the stage. After the younger group was done with their part, the next older group came out and to my own guess, they were approx. between 16 years olds to early thirties. You could see the difference between two groups as the older group exhibited more sharp movement and made some power moves and higher kicks. Sounds were louder, music faster, and wood blocks snapped louder.

Then, one friend asked me if I had learned Taekwondo when I was younger. That brought some old memories because when I was younger and being the only Asian for the most part, “do you know how to fight like Bruce Lee” was one of those most common questions asked. I’d often have to answer no, I don’t. Then they’d ask “Why not? you’re Asian.” “Yeah, I am, but that doesn’t mean I’m required to take karate lessons.”

I thought to myself why do they always ask that. I suppose it’s because marital arts was originated in Asia and made popular by figures like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and so on. It’s sad that Asian males had to rely on martial arts to succeed in movies and not much anything else. Another thought was why I wasn’t eager to learn Karate? Well, I remember one time my parents asked me if I’d be interested in taking a karate class or Taekwondo. I thought about the movie that I had seen, the Karate Kid movie and was obviously quite popular among young kids especially those had been bullied around and wanted to learn how to self-defend themselves. I told my parents that I don’t think I’d be interested. It’s funny that I could tell which is Coke or Pepsi but not with karate or taekwondo. Both arts even wore white doboks and color belts. My parents said ok sure, up to you. Then I picked up a basketball and went outside to shoot some hoops. After some bounces, rattles, layups, and swishes, I realized I wanna be just like Mike. Not Bruce Lee or others, although they still kick balls.