Protocol
By Linda M. Russo
At the very heart
of Tang Soo Do is our Protocol.
Protocol is the set of rules that we use to guide everything that goes on
in the dojang, how we interact with other and how we get things done. Outside of Tang Soo Do there is also
protocol. There is protocol in
every minute of every day but, having grown up with it, these behaviors seem
natural and often go unnoticed.
For example, I was told never to address an adult by their first name
(even if they told me to), never to talk rudely to anyone, always say please and
thank you and get out of the chair if someone older than me didn’t have a
seat. No doubt not everyone grew up
with this as their family protocol but everyone has some variation of
it.
At its most basic,
our protocol is similar to “Miss Manners” or “Emily Post”. There is just a certain way things
should be done to be considered polite.
Where Miss Manners might suggest how to seat people at a wedding
reception, our Tang Soo Do protocol dictates not only who should stand where in
class but how and when we bow, salute the flags, how we greet each other, thank
each other, accept something from someone, carry a weapon, ask a question or
apologize to someone.
In Tang Soo Do, our
protocol often seems foreign to Americans but in fact most of the “rules” are
very ancient and have developed over time.
The protocols that have withstood the test of time have done so because
not only do they regulate how we act but they teach something as
well.
Imagine hundreds of
years ago people training in the deadly art of war. Imagine what would happen if someone
trained like that had no self discipline and would hurt or kill whomever they
wanted. For this reason rules and
protocol had to develop hand in hand with martial skills. Our Five Codes and Seven Tenets were the
result of this realization: core behaviors that anyone who dedicated themselves
to martial arts training were expected to do. Anyone who did not follow these codes
was considered unworthy to train in the Art.
Today our protocols
still teach us very important things.
No doubt the application is different since we generally don’t fight
battles on the streets. What do you
learn from bowing to someone? What
does a Black Belt learn from bowing to the students they teach? Why are you supposed to ask questions of
those immediately above you in rank and not just go to Sah Bum Nim? Why do you salute the flags before
stepping onto the training floor?
There are reasons for all of these things- they teach gratitude, humility
and respect.
Just like learning
a new technique, you should watch closely and learn the protocol of the
dojang. If you don’t know why you
are doing something, ask the appropriate people.
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