GroupMe

I am a firm believer that you should keep your politics out of your areas of growth.

In my dojang (Taekwondo gym), we have a GroupMe account to communicate with each other. When the mask mandates changed in New Jersey, our master instructor informed us that we no longer have to wear masks at training. I was excited because it is difficult to train hard when your airflow is restricted.

Everyone was excited. No one said a negative word about it in person or on our GroupMe account. A few days later, a member of the dojang took it upon himself to post disparaging remarks about a national doctor, calling him a fraud and the mask mandate overblown. His comments had nothing to do with protocols in our dojang. It was not respectful of anyone in the dojang or the progress with their trianing. It was a post meant to spread his message. I am OK with him spreading his message, but I will not allow him to do it in our training area. Later in the day, he stated that he posted his because he wanted to calm everyone’s fears. What fears? No one mentioned concerns to me or any of the other leaders in the dojang. If anything, he was creating the “fears” through his messaging. I have no use for people who spread their message by creating fear in others.

I was angry and upset. I needed to calm down and contemplate what I was going to say. Later that night, I posted the following, “Moving forward, we should use this discourse to discuss Taekwondo, our master instructor, and our training.” Seconds later, the author of the original post removed himself from the GroupMe account. He has not shown up to train since then. Good riddance. To me, his politics were more important than our training. As a practitioner, as a student, and as a trainer, this is unforgivable. 

There is a time and a place for politics. It is not when I am working out and not when I am training others.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy.