Second Term of Taekwondo

I was pleased to see that the instructors basically formed a new class at Taekwondo in which to train the 8 or so new teenagers that don't fit into the kids class but don't really fit into the more advanced adult class. I was hoping that one or two new students would come out for the new term (which began yesterday), and it turned out that around eight new people had signed up. When Ellen and I got there early to watch the kids' class finish up, they had partitioned off the dojang to do a separate first class for the new teenagers. We sat in the same spot along the wall that we sat in on September 13th after meekly poking into the class to see what was going on; this time we were uniformed and sporting the second-level belt, watching the new students in their street clothes, dressed the way we were just a few months ago.

I found myself mentally counselling the different students, mindsetting one-on-one situations with some of them, going over the advice I would give them, starting them off in a meaningful, deliberate direction. I have hardly any experience compared to what I will have a few years from now, but nonetheless I do have more than they do, and found myself walking along the hall with them in my mind, arms around their shoulders, pointing the way ahead. You feel all that fear you have right now, of this scary place, of these scary people, of all these different color belts that you have no idea the meaning of, of these berserk, ear-piercing yells going on? Enjoy the fear now, while it lasts, and wait a couple of months and watch how elegantly this fear goes through the motions, working itself into power, training itself into a sense of responsibility, accreting respect for the strength you'll discover in your limbs and in your mind, strength you never knew you had. You know that innate aggressive instinct of yours that only ever got you into trouble as a kid? You know how any time you wanted to just lash out and hit something or kick something but were afraid of being reprimanded or scolded or losing the approval of your mentors? Well, things are different around here...