Okay. I’m gonna try this again.
I don’t brag about my training or rank. I don’t talk endlessly about it, I don’t spend recess practicing flying side kicks (I haven’t had recess since sixth grade, for that matter), I don’t constantly reference needing to go to class, I don’t spend my days drawing MA pictures, I don’t refuse to allow anyone to enjoy action movies, etc.
However, I am not ashamed of my training. I’m not going to deny that I do tae kwon do, I’m not going to lie about why I don’t want to go out with friends on Friday night, and if, say, someone asks me how I got that rediculous bruise on my shoulder, I’m not going to lie. Some people believe that their MA training should be their ‘best kept secret’, and that’s fine. I don’t subscribe to that belief. To me, my training (regardless of my rank) means something. I refuse to avoid the topic. My problem is, as several others have been pointed out, primarily with the “Primal 17-year-old male” type found so often in high schools. Example: the other day in health class, I was whining to a friend about how my knees hurt after spending a good amount of time doing jumping drills the previous night. An acquantince, sitting next to me, asked if I did gymnastics (as he overheard my conversation). I said no, I do TKD. I have no problem with people asking my rank, etc, though when people don’t believe me/ask stupid questions such as “have you ever killed someone with your bare hands?”, I do get slightly irritated. That’s all.
On the issue of ‘kids’ getting black belts: I worked for my belt. That’s really all there is to it. I met the same curriculum requirements as every other black belt from my dojang, regardless of age. My instructors believed that I had reached that level, and I trust their judgement. Additionally, I (at the time I earned my BB) trained at a WTF school. The WTF has set (IIRC) the minimum age for a first-dan at 15. I was 15 when I was promoted to that rank. The standards of the WTF and of my (then) dojang are really the only black belt standards I care about, quite honestly. Am I interested in how other schools run? Yes. Do I hold myself, in any way, to a standard of a school that I have no involvement in? No.
Minor note on the bowing thing: I’m scatterbrained. I spend a lot of time at my TKD school, where our instructors are strict about bowing. I pay much more attention when I’m there, because I like those people more than most people at my school. I really don’t have an excuse, and it’s happened maybe two or three times. My friends haven’t let me forget those times, though.
I said this before: I shouldn’t be as bitchy about some of this stuff as I am. I’m not as bitchy as I came across in the OP, I swear. However, I don’t claim to be perfect. I claim to be passionate about something many people see as a joke or amusement; it’s also something people tend to think that women can’t excel at. So, occasionally, I get pissed off and bitchy about it. Um, in other words, I’m pretty much a normal human.
