Integrity

This week I found myself thinking back a few years. Back to when we were looking for some "activities" for our children.   You know, the stuff to keep them occupied. We were refered to SRKF by some friends.  I remember the big thing that stood out for me was the fact that our kids were learning about values and empathy instead of just smashing things. Don't get me wrong, smashing things is fun!  Every time I watch a kids class or see a grading, I hear the question, " what does Kung Fu teach us?", followed by an enthusiastic and almost musical "discipline and respect".  But it is sooo much more than that. I could list all the values kung fu teaches or reinforces, but you'd get tired of reading.
I had the proud moment this week to watch my daughter (with some classmates) get up in front of her whole school and give a presentation on integrity. For those of you that don't know her, she is extremely shy. Even though this was way outside her comfort zone and she was scared, she was one of only a few kids who volunteered for this. I think Kung Fu also instills confidence and courage. There is a motivational poster in the men's changeroom at the kwoon that says something to the affect of "courage is the ability to do things without fear". I couldn't disagree with this more. My daughter taught me that courage is the ability to do things despite fear.
After the poems were read and the songs sung, the teachers wanted to recognize a few students from the entire school who consistently displayed integrity in and out of the classroom. This then became my second proud moment of the afternoon.  Kung fu definitely teaches integrity.
I don't know if any of our kids will continue with kung fu as a life long journey, maybe they will, maybe they won't.   But what I do know, our children and probably many other kids (even those who have only experienced Kung fu for a few years), have already started to develop values and skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.