I started Tae Kwon Do in 4th grade. My dad was trying to find a way to squelch my nervous, worry-wart nature. He had taken me to Psychologists, Kung Fu movie stars (this was great, thinking back on it -- ask me about it sometime), any place he could to try and help me. He found JK Lee's through some friends at his old job, the Milwaukee Journal, if I'm not mistaken.
JK Lee's is owned and operated by the Lee family. Jae Kyu Lee is the grandmaster and reigning hand in the business. His son, Chan Lee, was the guy fresh out of business school ready to take over the business from Master Lee, who was planning to step out due to retirement. Chan might possibly be the most influential and powerful person I've ever met.
From age 10, he was the main pusher, the main guy behind my faults, my aspirations, my successes. This is the guy that you rest on to make you popular in high school. He knows the art of martial arts, but he also knows the art of social life.
When I was 14 he came up to me when I was assisting a teacher in our child leadership program at the time, called the K.I.C.K. Team (Kids Inspiring Confidence in other Kids). He said "Pete, man, do you wanna be flipping burgers when you're able to work, or do you want to be an instructor here?" I was an "under-the-table" instructor from then on, working illegally but loving it, until of course I was of proper age to actually file paperwork, which was a couple of months later.
From age 14 until age 18 I was one of the instructors on staff at the JK Lee chain, which I think is now the biggest martial arts chain in the midwest. A small team of teens and I went to work teaching all ages, but primarily we taught children. We swapped schools a lot of the time, so we were all pretty close.
Chan was the boss. He was the guy that pushed us in the Instructors Class, the guy
you had to answer to if students didn't want to come to the school anymore because they felt the class was either too easy or too hard (in my experience, I was yelled at more for having classes be too hard. A Marine once said my class was more difficult than boot camp.). This is also the guy who you had to prove yourself to day in day out with your own physical and mental strength. If you didn't have what it took to be an instructor, BOOM your ass was grass, no more paycheck, "Come and see me in a couple weeks and we'll see if you can get your job back."This guy was insane. Sanely insane, I should say, meaning he had his wits, but he was intense -- he knew what he was doing.
He orchestrated local news to cover our school on occasion, made charities, worked with flight attendants after 9/11 in self-defense, worked with police enforcement, this guy had it in with everybody.
Cut to one day I'm closing up shop. It's about 9:30. I'm tired, sore. Chan comes up out of nowhere and says "Hey, Pete, you wanna see a movie?" Kind of nervous I say "Yeah, sure. What are we seeing?"
"How about 'Tomb Raider'?"
I didn't really care to see that movie, but he apparently wanted to. I agreed.
He said "Cool. We'll just have to wait for Chris to drop off my car."
He had always driven an SUV and a Nissan everyman's car to work every day. I said "I thought your car was outside in the parking lot."
"No," he said. "My other car."
Chris, his sister, who also ran a school in the chain, drove up in an awesome red sports car, revving the engine. I said "What's this?!"
Chan looked back with a huge shit eating grin: "Ain't she sweet? You like it right?" He said it in that "I'm testing you" tone, "Either you like it or you're walking there".
Driving to the theater, he kept asking me about school, about my friends, if I had gotten laid yet, what drugs I was smoking. I lied and said "I tried things a few times. I don't do them anymore."
The entire time he knew the truth. He had gotten a call from my parents who were worried that I had been hanging out with the wrong crowd. My grades were lower (B's instead of A's), my attitude was more snippy, and they could have sworn I was smoking pot. I was. A little. Drinking? A little. Who doesn't?
So Chan, in his wisdom, he didn't chastise me. He gave me the talk my dad should have given me after the movie was over. He dropped me off at my house and we talked until 12:30 in the morning standing out in my mom's driveway. He said "I'm not gonna lie, Karen called me and told me some things."
I said "Oh shit."
He smiled and said "Don't worry about it. Just check in with me with any sort of problem you might have, alright Pete?" He then told me about girls, cars, friends, music, the whole she-bang.
He was a party animal in school, and still liked to party. But he knew how to control himself, when to keep it all "zipped up". This guy knew what he wanted and how to get it without stepping on toes.
That's what he taught me.
Discipline in all walks of life, not just the do-jong.
This guy wasn't just a teacher, he was a friend. My boss, my master, my friend.
After finding him on Facebook the other night I was thrust back into some of the old trepidation I had, the fear, the careful tiptoeing my body felt itself folding into everytime I was with him. The awe. I messaged him briefly, ashamed at what I wrote. It wasn't as good as it could have been.
I then found a link to an episode of "Made" that he starred in. "Made" is a show on MTV, apparently, dealing with lazy kids looking to be "made" into someone who's worth a damn. Kind of a stupid show, but it made me smile whenever I saw Chan being Chan. That was him right there, adding TV star to his list of successes.
It scared me into thinking "Jesus, if he asked me how my life was right now I know he'd be disappointed. I've got to get my ass in gear with everything."
It's good having him back in my brain, pushing and yelling "PICK IT UP, PETE!!! C'MON!!!!!"
Fear is a good tool to treat lethargy.
Here's the episode I found:
http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/239124/rude-awakening.jhtml#id=1586185
Moby -- "Natural Blues"
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