Integrity

By Kyle Feagans, red belt

INTEGRITY is a nine letter word with a powerful definition that not only defines who we are but also defines what we are.  Integrity is a quality of always behaving according to the moral principles that you believe in.  It is behaving in a manner that others respect and trust you; they know they can depend on you.

Integrity, to me, is a core characteristic that defines the type of person that we are.  It means that we can be trusted to do or not to waiver from our values or beliefs.  It means that others can and will trust us to do right.  It means that we will probably treat others like or even better than our self.
Our integrity can be challenged at anytime.  It could be challenged at work or play.  There are many scenarios that can happen in the course of a day, a week, month or year.  These scenarios could occur at home or at work.  You may deal with people, business owner’s, supervisors or boss’s that want you to do things that can put your integrity in jeopardy.  It is important to be vigilant in protecting your character at all times.

Our integrity can be challenged at any time.  It can be challenged at work, at play or when we least expect it.  We could encounter scenarios with co-workers, acquaintances, are friend or our boss.  Our integrity could even be challenged by our customers.  Our integrity can be challenged at home.  At home it is important to be prepared and disciplined in your integrity as the younger members of your family are always watching or listening.  If we think about it we can challenge are own integrity.  How many times do we ask ourselves if we did our best today?  Did we really give our all or try our hardest in everything we did today?  Did we do our best at work, home or in our work out today, this week or this month?  Or did we relax in areas that we should not have?  It is important to be disciplined, to be on guard and prepared to protect our integrity…it is a core characteristic that defines us.

Integrity in Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo is a core characteristic of our art.  It is an art that is both individual and is team related.  We practice and hone in on the details of multiple self defense skills in case we ever find ourselves in a situation in which we need to defend our self.  We do not learn these skills with the intent to go out looking for trouble.  This would be a dishonor to the high standard of MSK Taekwondo Integrity.