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Page 4 of 5 I was once enrolled in a school where students were taught to defend against a simple middle-section punch with no less than five counter-strikes, including a knife-hand strike to the cervical vertebrae just below the base of the skull and a front snap kick to the groin. Throughout the entire year in that program, no one ever suggested that the measures one would take to subdue an attacker could and should be adjusted in accordance with the severity of the attack. I have seen self-defense video presentations which instruct a defender to proceed as follows: when an attacker grabs you by the wrist, first, break his knee with a short range side kicks, strike the side of his neck with your forearm, next execute a knee strike to the groin then a palm heel strike to the hinge of the jaw, and, finally, stand menacingly over his crumpled body. Once again, overkill seems to be the order of the day. Is it any wonder that modern-day youths who carry guns are willing to use them on the people who offend them or possess something they want? All martial arts schools must provide basic technical instruction for their students in order to stay in business. The school where I train, the Korean Martial Arts Institute (KMAI), reflects the standards of traditional Tae Kwon Do values and is truly a caring school where students regardless, of their age and physical ability, are taught effective techniques for self-defense while high standards of ethical conduct are cultivated. In my experience, martial arts schools of any style in which a head instructor is able to take a close personal interest in the development of each and every student are rare indeed. It is this capacity for genuine caring that makes the KMAI relatively unique and generally distinguishes the "family oriented" nature of member schools of our parent organization, the ITA. It is clear that parents providing "material things" for the young people of this country, while neglecting care for both their emotional development and moral guidance, fall far short of the mark. So too, in my opinion, do martial arts schools which help their students develop and refine skills by means of which "great bodily harm" or even death of a fellow human being may be brought about but fail to impress upon these same students the importance of restraint in using such skills. In order to salvage and rebuild what remains of a once proud nation, we must find our way back to a code of ethics and the moral principles of former times. This country already has an over abundance of people in various roles of leadership, who either profess to have high moral standards but fail to support these with their actions or else don't even pretend to have integrity in the first place.
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