The Tenet of Courtesy

By Grandmaster Sung Chon Hong
9th Dan Black Belt Grandmaster
Executive Vice-President of the Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA)
August 20, 2009

Courtesy is a word or action to one's neighbor that is marked by respect.

Our Taekwondo education inculcates this tenet through the rituals that we have like the bowing to our instructor and to our seniors. This includes our shaking hands as a sign of sportsmanship to our opponent before and after the match whether we win or lose.

All of us stand from a certain position that entails a responsibility whether we are a white belt, a black belt, a senior or a junior, a parent or a child, a referee, a grandmaster. This position requires a specific manner of action or proper words like "opo", which is said by a child to an elder when responding.

This tenet is simple but hard to do. It is saying thank you when a given a gift. This is the essence of gratefulness for all the blessings that have been bestowed on us.

This tenet, if embodied in daily life by a Taekwondo practitioner, will demonstrate the depth of his learning of the martial art.

After all, Taekwondo is more than just the 45 kick.

Courtesy is about being a genuine Taekwondo jin working within the order of society.

Without courtesy, there is disorder.

This is an important virtue that we must live out deeply.