My dojang promotes what they call “Black Belt Skills”: once a week, they choose a word or short term that reflects an ideal black belt behavior. I’ve decide to take this term and discuss what what it means to me as a martial artist and as a woman. (I’m actually running a week behind because I usually only get to class once a week on Saturday until I manage to replace my poor car). This week’s term is honor.
hon.or n. honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s beliefs and actions. v. 1. to hold in honor or high respect; revere. 2. to treat with honor. 3. to confer honor or a distinction upon. 4. to show a courteous regard for.
– Dictionary.com
Honor is an integral part of martial arts. We honor our school by bowing on entering and leaving. We honor our masters and instructors by bowing, listening and following their instructions. But martial arts promotes more than the outward show of honor.
As martial artists, we need to cultivate honor in ourselves. Our behavior inside and outside the school determines and demonstrates our honor. We can be considered honorable by keeping our word, by being truthful and by acting with integrity. (I discuss integrity in this blog post). When we confer honor on another, we show our own sense of honor.
As women, we’re very good at conferring honor on others. Where we tend to fall down is in honoring ourselves, particularly if we’re recovering from an abusive background. We need to remember that we, ourselves are worthy of honor
In the martial arts, a certain amount of honor comes your way simply from the color of your belt or years of experience. And most black belts and masters deserve this regard. However, I have known a few black belts who take their rank as a license to do what they please. Luckily, these are few and far between and while most students obey them on the mats, they do not honor them. To be treated with honor, we must act with honor.
Unless we are new beginners, we must remember there are students of lower experience and rank who look up to us and view us a role models. We should be conscious of this and conduct ourselves accordingly. Even at a lowly 7th gup (yellow belt with green stripe), I and everyone else at my rank provide role models for the yellow belts, white belts with yellow stripes, and white belts. We should model honor, both in our own behavior and in conferring it to those who deserve it. This becomes especially true if we take classes that have children in them.
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Tags: black belt skills, honor
