I recently returned from New York City, where the streets themselves are more crowded than our largest classes. Some things particularly struck me about New York, though, as it is very different than the image portrayed in the 1970’s when I was growing up.

In the 1970’s, New York was gritty, dirty, bankrupt, and unsafe. Times Square, which is now a shiny showplace, was an area you couldn’t let your kids walk through at noon on Sunday. Everyone said New York couldn’t be fixed, they had “given up” on New York.

I thought about the kids who have come through the door of the karate school. We have had students who couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time. We have had students with behavioral or physical impairments which “couldn’t be fixed”, just like New York. We have also had students with enough talent to “play Broadway”, both physically, and emotionally. But the key is – once someone becomes a student – we won’t be GIVING up on that student as we try to lift them to their maximum potential. There might be one in a thousand students that really can’t meet the physical requirements to become a black belt, eventually. BUT, that “EVENTUALLY” requires a 100% commitment to “Perseverance.”

In New York, we went through the World Trade Center Memorial as well. There are memorial pools, with the names inscribed of those we lost on 9/11. I would say that those “pools of remembrance” were not at all the memorial to those who lost their lives that day. The memorial, the statement of what those people, and this Nation, is all about, now stands over 100 stories tall. Yes, the bad guys knocked down the towers, we remember that. But when we get knocked down, we rebuild. The Freedom Tower is bigger, better, and more beautiful than ever.

Many of us have suffered through a “no-change” at a testing. I once tested with another organization, and, like many students, I didn’t believe the result was “fair.” I could certainly choose to reflect on that lack of success, and focus on who to blame, and I would find many to sit and reflect with me. But, that is not the spirit of Taekwondo that I want students to see. When my students get knocked down, I want them to get up again. When they can’t break with that left leg spin kick at testing, I want them to work harder on it the next time. If they get a bad grade at school or a bad review at work, I don’t want them looking to assign blame.

Sitting and staring at the memorial pools was nice. Looking up at the sparkling Freedom Tower, though, said something else. Freedom Tower is a symbol of our Perseverance, and Perseverance says to the world – “I will not be defeated.” - Mr. Vickroy