What Does Humility Have to Do with Taekwondo?

[Gwai Lo Dan]

"Knowledge makes humble. Ignorance makes proud."

Yesterday I was watching a youtube video on teaching UK kids with the Chinese educational methods. The teacher used that quote (10:06) and I thought it was astute and applicable to pretty much anyone and any situation.

 

[ks - learning to fly]

my Black Belt has definite threads of humility!
meaning... to me - the knowledge that, no matter how
good you might think you are - there's always
someone better!

 

[Earl Weiss]

A couple of my favorite quotes:

"I am humble because I think I am only half as good as i really am."

"If you are really good, you do not have to tell anyone - they already know."

 

[Buka]

I don't think the "there's always someone better" outlook is relevant. Because it is an immutable fact. I don't think being good at Martial Arts matters much either. You train, you're supposed to be good eventually.

If you teach, like it or not, you are leading by example. If you are not humble, guess how your students will turn out?
And you will not like them much.

 

[drop bear]

I don't think the "there's always someone better" outlook is relevant. Because it is an immutable fact. I don't think being good at Martial Arts matters much either. You train, you're supposed to be good eventually.

If you teach, like it or not, you are leading by example. If you are not humble, guess how your students will turn out?
And you will not like them much.

If you are training properly there should be three or four in the room with you.

 

[Steve]

If you are training properly there should be three or four in the room with you.

Agreed. If you're the toughest hombre in your school, you need to find another school.

 

[Buka]

Agreed. If you're the toughest hombre in your school, you need to find another school.

Yes, of course, but, if you're running the school, teaching all (most) of the classes, you need to develop one, hopefully several, of the students to be better Martial Artists/fighters/whatever than you.

I'm not sure toughest is the right word.

 

[Tez3]

One of today's problems is that confident people are often dragged down as many don't like to see self confidence mostly because they don't have it. A self confident person isn't a boastful one or arrogant one but there is something about them that some find uncomfortable and they will attack them.
We need to encourage young people to be confident and to have good self esteem without becoming big headed, we need to bring them up to know their own self worth which should be considerable. This isn't the same as not being 'humble', it's not the same as going around thinking everyone is better than you or vice versa. In martial arts we should appraise ourselves honestly, we should know which bits we find hard and should work on and we should know which bits we are good at.
You can know your worth in the world and not be arrogant.

 

[Millennial Martial Artist]

and what if one's role is important? What if you are very important for example to your family? It smacks of false modesty then to say you aren't important, if you are, you should acknowledge it, however being modest would mean knowing it but not boasting about it.





Oh no. If you consistently tell children they aren't good enough and they can do better they grow to believe it. They won't be people who aim higher they will be people with low self esteem and confidence.

I don't think being humble and being modest is what you think it is. You should always be honest with yourself and know your strengths and weaknesses, you can work on the latter and enjoy the former. Being humble is not boasting, not making yourself out to be greater than you are it is not abasing yourself to seem less than others.

Perhaps I didn't make my thought on it clear enough. I firmly believe in reinforcing a positive behavior, and giving credit where credit is due. Otherwise, yes one will start to believe that they aren't good enough. However, I think there is a fine balance in there between " Yeah, I'm awesome, look at how much I've done," and "Yeah, I'm awesome, but look at how much more I can do still." I absolutely agree with you though, that being humble is not boasting about yourself. This post is humbling me constantly, as I am getting great and different viewpoints on this topic

 

[Millennial Martial Artist]

my Black Belt has definite threads of humility!
meaning... to me - the knowledge that, no matter how
good you might think you are - there's always
someone better!

Completely agree! That was the same quote my past instructor would say to all of his students. No matter what, there is always someone better than you out there. (of course, some kids would get smart and say, "well, what about the person who is the absolute best? Who is better than them?" To which he would reply that someone is still better than them at some part of their training)

 

[Martial_Kumite]

Oh no. If you consistently tell children they aren't good enough and they can do better they grow to believe it. They won't be people who aim higher they will be people with low self esteem and confidence.

I don't think being humble and being modest is what you think it is. You should always be honest with yourself and know your strengths and weaknesses, you can work on the latter and enjoy the former. Being humble is not boasting, not making yourself out to be greater than you are it is not abusing yourself to seem less than others.

There is a thin line between building and destroying one's self. Humility can be the foundation or the dynimite. It is really up to the person themselves to decide which one it is. Yea, I know this sound like some kind of mystic bullshido. Instructors/coaches/etc can help people see which one it is, but instructors can't change ones own self-view.

Martial art is a lens in which humility can be viewed thru. Training builds confidence in one's own ability. Humility comes after the confidence turns into arrogance. It is then the role of the Instructors/coaches/etc to help guild them through their arrogance. Then, does one understand humility vs overconfident or under confidence.

Then again, I am simply a random human who is (possibly) rambling due to be in tired reading a Martial arts discussion board until 2 am. Oh well

 

[Millennial Martial Artist]

There is a thin line between building and destroying one's self. Humility can be the foundation or the dynimite. It is really up to the person themselves to decide which one it is. Yea, I know this sound like some kind of mystic bullshido. Instructors/coaches/etc can help people see which one it is, but instructors can't change ones own self-view.

Martial art is a lens in which humility can be viewed thru. Training builds confidence in one's own ability. Humility comes after the confidence turns into arrogance. It is then the role of the Instructors/coaches/etc to help guild them through their arrogance. Then, does one understand humility vs overconfident or under confidence.

Then again, I am simply a random human who is (possibly) rambling due to be in tired reading a Martial arts discussion board until 2 am. Oh well

Hey, sometimes late night/early morning rambles are when our most honest and raw thoughts come out! When I first thought about humility, I related them in kind of a sequence. A person gains ability, and becomes proud. The pride becomes eradicated through being humbled, in where a person receives humility, and learns how to balance their ego with their abilities. And this leads to honor: showing that one can overcome their own biggest enemy, which is oftentimes ourselves.

This is a 1am ramble for me, I hope something in here makes sense!

 

[Tez3]

Humility comes after the confidence turns into arrogance. It is then the role of the Instructors/coaches/etc to help guild them through their arrogance

It doesn't follow that arrogance comes after confidence for everyone, only those inclined towards arrogance anyway. people are not alike, if we build confidence we don't build arrogance, that comes from within people besides there's plenty of arrogant instructors around lol.

 

[Martial_Kumite]

t doesn't follow that arrogance comes after confidence for everyone,

When I talk about arrogance, I refer to the definition "having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities." I see this as going two ways. 1: the obvious "oh I am so great" kind of thinking and 2: the " I am worthless and not important" type of thinking. When I wrote that line, I believe I was referring to more of the latter type of arrogance. Instructors help guild people like that to have more self-esteem, the they can realise more of their own capabilities. This was more what I was like when I first started training.

 

[Tez3]

When I talk about arrogance, I refer to the definition "having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities." I see this as going two ways. 1: the obvious "oh I am so great" kind of thinking and 2: the " I am worthless and not important" type of thinking. When I wrote that line, I believe I was referring to more of the latter type of arrogance. Instructors help guild people like that to have more self-esteem, the they can realise more of their own capabilities. This was more what I was like when I first started training.

Ok that has confused me, you can't be arrogant if you think you are 'worthless and not important' because that's the opposite of being arrogant. I see what you mean but it's definitely not 'arrogance'.

 

[Martial_Kumite]

worthless and not important' because that's the opposite of being arrogant

What about being arrogant of one potential? There is no bragging in that. It is a sense of lack of worth more than it is a show of the other side of arrogance.

 

[Tez3]

What about being arrogant of one potential? There is no bragging in that. It is a sense of lack of worth more than it is a show of the other side of arrogance.

Sorry, still not with you, I don't understand what you are saying I'm afraid.

 

[Martial_Kumite]

Sorry, still not with you, I don't understand what you are saying I'm afraid.

Tis cool.

 

[Tez3]

Tis cool.

Ok, I'm probably just being thick.

 

[Martial_Kumite]

Ok, I'm probably just being thick

No, It is just difficult for me to explain ideas.

Plus, it was just an Idea based off of the definition of arrogance "having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities."

Specifically the "exaggerated sense " part. It just came to my mind that you can exaggerate yourself in a negative or positive way. Thus, you are arrogant about what you can really do, or the skill you have.