Martial Arts begins and ends with respect.Our society has gotten away from the old ways like saying "Yes Sir." And "Yes Ma'am." But we shouldn't even call it the "old ways" it should just be called the proper way!
Martial Arts has many good qualities but respect is the most important. It can be associated with every aspect.
HapKiDo in particular is a disciplined military martial art. We have discipline for the straight line, respect to all especially higher ranking belts and self improvement; you can find respect in everything for instance to say Yes Sir is to respect the instructor and all instructors. Standing in a straight line and paying attention shows respect to the instructor by doing as they ask. It shows respect to other students by showing you will not be disruptive in class so they can learn and it also demonstrates respect to one self showing the commitment you made to do well in class.
Everything else is secondary to respect! If you do not have respect nothing is right.
How many times have you heard or said yourself "oh who cares!"
That is the most disrespectful thing you can say to yourself and for others to hear because if you "don't care" about anything it will start to show in all parts if your life.
For instance you will not strive to be or do your best. You probably not be punctual or you may become unkempt.
It is most important for you to care about all aspects of life from the small stuff to the big stuff. If we let the little things go by then the snowball effect is started. In the old days and even today a good foundation for a strong home is built brick by brick. We cannot expect our home to stand the rough weather or the test of time if our foundation is not a solid one free of gaps. Martial Arts helps build a good foundation for the individual or fill in the gaps in our foundation so we can go through the storms of life. Respect is the corner stone of that foundation.
