Jhoon Rhee was the Bruce Lee of taekwondo. Born in Korea while it was occupied by the Japanese, he began practicing martial arts when he was 13, the same age Lee started. He, also like Lee, emigrated to the United States as a young man to go to college. And since both of them hoped to establish their art forms in the West, perhaps it is no surprise they eventually became friends.
After teaching his first American disciples, issuing black belts, and establishing a taekwondo presence in the US, Rhee started hosting tournaments. At a 1969 national Rhee was directing, something went wrong: Presumably, one of his students took a hard kick straight to the face and broke his cheekbone.
We can only speculate how Rhee felt, but it’s not hard to imagine: concerned about his student’s health, dejected with the bad publicity, and worried about the future of his sport in the country. That’s when Rhee received a letter from Bruce.
Bruce reminded Jhoon that the event was “a stepping stone and not a stumbling block.” “As a side observer,” Lee continued, “I know you have done your part right, and though the outcome of the tournament was not quite up to standard, you did everything right.”
Lee encouraged Jhoon to not throw in the towel. After all, he was on the right path: “You have that quality of being active, awake, pushing ahead at all times, and always ahead of the other tournament directors in terms of services, knowledge and truthfulness.”
And when, while admitting he was both trying to cheer up his friend while sharing some truth, Lee wrote a line that’s been ringing in my ears ever since: “When the mean is in order, the end is ultimately inevitable.”
It’s hard to chase your dream the right way. To do it ethically. To take the long way around. It’s hard to get up every morning and invest time, especially as you watch others taking shortcuts—even if you know those shortcuts will ultimately turn into dead ends. Insisting on kindness, quality, and good intentions is no guarantee for a financial payoff. But, according to Lee, it will get you to the right destination, whatever life may have decided that to be for you.
“You are taking the right steps in the right order. You know you are. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, and keep walking until you’ll succeed.” That’s what Lee seems to say, and it’s a message I personally feel I can’t possibly hear often enough.
It worked for Rhee, apparently. He kept going. Hosting tournaments. Training students. And in the 1980s, he ran a network of 11 martial arts studios on the East Coast of the US. Rhee was also inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame in 2007.
Choose the right means, find the right ends. If you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be a parent, parent. Take the straightest path to your biggest dreams, and don’t let the noise of the world send you on a highway in the wrong direction.
“What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become,” Lee ended his letter. “Remember, success is a journey, not a destination. I have faith in your ability. You will do just fine.”
