Integrity (Ye Ui)

The next tenet of Tae Kwon Do we will look at is Integrity (Ye Ui).

Integrity is often defined as honesty. This is the sense of the word in its most simple form. Integrity can be demonstrated through telling the truth, being sincere and doing the right thing.

In Korean, the term also has the additional connotations of a sense of shame when your actions have not been entirely honest. Through behaving with integrity it is hoped that one might achieve a sense of self-respect.

Inside the dojang

Integrity can be shown in many ways when training. For example, if your Instructor requires you to perform, let’s say, 10 press ups and you only do half that number when their back is turned, you are not showing integrity if you then claim to have done the full amount. If you feel no sense of shame about your dishonesty this further adds to the lack of integrity. If students are dishonest when training it is ultimately they who lose out, as their skills and fitness will not develop and their fellow students and Instructors will come to realise that they are untrustworthy.

Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won."

~Col. C. E. Wheat

Outside the dojang

Again, this tenet (like those previously discussed) can be a tricky one to achieve in your normal day-to-day life. Integrity in business can be difficult; do you compromise your beliefs on what is ethical and right to make a greater profit, or do you do the “right thing” according to your innermost values? If there is someone you know who really irritates, do you feign politeness in their immediate company and then criticise them behind their back? If you are given the wrong change in a shop, do you own up straight away, or keep quiet and pocket the extra pennies (or pounds!)? There are many ways in which your integrity can be compromised.

Here is a story that illustrates the concept of integrity perfectly…

The Emperor's Seed,
  by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!"

There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.

By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"