Told You So

“You’re never going to become black belt,” Miguel told me.

We were red belts at the time, and had been training for only 16 months. But that didn’t keep us from being as aggressive as tigers. Every time our taekwondo master corrected the other in our self-defense or forms, we would smile with glee.

One evening, I walked into the dojang and began to put on my sparring gear. It was a Tuesday, which meant we would be having a sparring class.

“Serena, let me help you,” the master had said, tying the back of my chest guard.

Before I knew it, class had started and we were paired up. Since there weren’t that many girls, I was paired up with Miguel. Again. Sparring with him was tough. He was bigger than me, and technically he should’ve been a high red belt, but because he had broken his arm, he was unable to take the exam. Which brought me to a slight disadvantage.

Miguel tended to kick me in the shins. On “accident.” There wasn’t much padding on our legs, and you were supposed to kick the chest guard, but he didn’t seem to care.

“You don’t get any points for kicking there!” I whispered angrily.

“When you’re in a real fight, it doesn’t matter where you kick,” he had said. “You’ll see.”

These were how many of my classes had been. I was always working hard, in hopes of becoming a better martial artist then him. That had been the only thing that had motivated me.

Then one day he left. Word had gotten around that he had ditched taekwondo for soccer.

You may have thought that I would not have continued to train without his motivation, but instead I trained even harder; this time being competing with myself.

Now I’m almost a 3rd degree black belt. It’s been about three years since Miguel told me I would never become a black belt because I wasn’t good enough.

Now he’s not even here. If he were to show up, he would still be a red belt.

“I told you I would become a black belt.” I whisper. “I told you so.”

~ Mariam S.