Algunos practicantes de USA que entienden sólo un poco de Castellano han visto esta nota en una entrada anterior de este Blog, y me pidieron si la podía traducir para ellos.
"ALL THE MARTIAL ARTS ARE GOOD"
Recently I read the phrase “ALL THE MARTIAL ARTS ARE GOOD”.
It does not matter now who wrote it or where, but this is not the first time I read or heard it… and THE IMPORTANT FACT is that I have some doubts when people use this phrase.
Starting by saying that is a very general phrase, it is a “structured phrase” that one can apply to everything… and that is why I have some doubts about its validity.
One can say:
“ALL THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BUENOS AIRES ARE GOOD”, but there really are excellent Secondary Schools here, others good, others fair and some bad.
“ALL THE COMPUTER PRINTERS ARE GOOD”, but there really are a few really good ones, others are only good, and a few hardly acceptable.
“ALL THE JAPANESE WATCHES ARE GOOD”, but besides some good ones of a recognized trade mark, there are a few ones that are sold there by 3 dollars and which are scarcely acceptable.
“ALL THE ARGENTINE MEDICAL DOCTORS ARE GOOD”, but there really are many who are excellent or very good, a lot who are good… and a few (specially graduated in Private Universities) that you will be very lucky if you never meet them.
So, that a phrase like “ALL THE … ARE GOOD” is too general, because it includes “ALL” the possible activities/people/articles of this type, and if we find a one and only case where this phrase is not valid… that automatically invalidates this opinion, because it is not true for “ALL”.
In fact, by saying “ALL THE MARTIAL ARTS ARE GOOD” it is given an opinion about the QUALITY of ALL the Martial Arts… and for being able to give such opinion “accurately and well-supported”… the person who writes or tells that SHOULD BE A PERSON WITH BROAD KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE, WHO KNOWS EVERY MARTIAL ART. Otherwise, this opinion could not be considered seriously.
Having 37 years studying and practicing TSD, and after studying carefully all the material of the other Martial Arts I could find, my feeling is that there are some excellent Martial Arts, others very good, and a few good, referred to their role as human activities focused on the healthy development of people as a whole (physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually).
Reading the previous line, someone could say: “Well, if he finally says that there are excellent, very good or good Martial Arts, the phrase “ALL THE MARTIAL ARTS ARE GOOD” is correct, because all of those are, at least, good”.
No, that is not correct.
Because I am not talking about “ALL” of them, but rather only about those that I know quite well… I can not give an opinion about something I do not know… It would not be serious of me.
Now, all the previous comments would not be more than a linguistic curiosity if we were talking about TRUE Martial Arts, which effectively fulfill their role as human activities focused on the healthy development of people as a whole (physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually).
The problem is that people without experience in Martial Arts, when they see people “throwing punches and kicks” in a Gym or similar, already believe they are seeing “Martial Arts”, and believe they can learn there all the good things that Martial Arts could give them… AND MANY TIMES THIS IS NOT TRUE.
There are many activities that people believe are “Martial Arts”, but are not.
These are Combat Systems which use Martial Arts techniques, but that do not teach the respectful behavior and the virtues like honesty, discipline and self-control, focused on the healthy development of people as a whole (physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually). There, they only teach how to fight… and that is not enough to be considered a Martial Art.
They could be “martial” (relative to war or conflict) but they are not an ART (relative to the WHOLE human development).
An example of this matter was explained by Grand Master Jae Chul Shin (9ºDan), who lead the international organization “World Tang Soo Do Association”, with more than a hundred thousand members around the world, in an interview given to the British magazine “COMBAT” in two issues (November & December of 2011: “Newly popular Mixed Martial Arts seems to appeal to many, but to me, it is not any form of ART. It is purely a physical sport. I wish they would not call it “Martial Arts”, but rather create a new name for it. I do not see anything that can be learned from its training, except how to brutally fight. A true Martial Art must offer you much more!”
People who could see the whole article (in English) could read it in
http://www.tangsoodoworld.com/articles/magazines_2010s.htm
That means, we are before an “non-appropriate” use of the term “Martial Arts”
Boxing, Full Contact or Kick-Boxing Instructors do not introduce their practices as “Martial Arts” but rather as “Combat Systems or Styles”… which is true. And then they do not cheat anyone… no-one expects to find there “spiritual development or moral enhancement”, but only to learn “how to fight”, which is precisely what they find.
But there are many more cases of activities that people confuse with “Martial Arts”, and which are really not:
- There are activities which were Martial Arts long time ago, but became Olympic Sports: Judo, some schools of Tae Kwon Do.
Although Sports give you good values when are practiced on an amateur basis, all of us know many cases of “Sport’s Stars” who in their personal lives “are not a good example of a healthy and well-integrated person”. Years practicing Sport have not improved them as persons.
To learn a Sport believing that you are learning a Martial Art, is like buying a 30meters water-proof watch believing you are buying one which resists 100meters deep… once you have sank below the 30meters level and it stops working, then will be too late to regret it.
- There are activities which were “supposedly” Martial Arts, but which since long ago have focused ONLY on making more and more Competitions for having more publicity and students, and that has turned them into “pure Sports”… or “business” (they are looking for “quantity” instead of “quality”). They use the name for publicity, but do not give the student any of the benefits of a true Martial Art.
- There are “adventurers” who created “their own Martial Art”, but they are actually just looking for money, many students and fame. They only give a strange mixture of combat techniques taken from many different sources, linked not very well or logically, all covered with “an aura of spirituality”, and using the name “Martial Art” as a cloak of seriousness to attract people.
It has been from the mouth of “adventurers” like those ones that I have heard some times and LONG TIME AGO the phrase “ALL THE MARTIAL ARTS ARE GOOD”… as a way to justify their “strange mixtures and creations”. They used this phrase to convince to non-experienced people that what they were teaching was as good as the other Martial Arts (the true ones).
I suggest not saying “ALL THE MARTIAL ARTS ARE GOOD”, because we are not able to give seriously an opinion about “ALL” the existing options. And for being us ourselves practitioners of a Martial Art, people could value A LOT our opinion, and that is why we have to be careful not to mislead people, nor to help, unwillingly, those “adventurers” who want to cheat us by “selling lemons”.
We have to talk and give opinion only about the topics we know well about, whether it is Martial Arts or other topics… and about others, respectfully and humbly, we should have to say “I am sorry, I cannot give an opinion about this topic/school because I do not know it enough well”.
por SBN Ricardo A. Longinotti (7º Dan - TANG SOO DO MI GUK KWAN - ARGENTINA)
NOTA: por cualquier duda o necesidad de mayores detalles sobre éste u otros temas de TSD, puede enviar un e-mail a tsdlonginotti@hotmail.com o dirigirse personalmente a las clases de TSD MGK, en los días y horarios especificados en el título de este Blog.
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