A KOREAN MELON once happened to move to our country and more specifically to our well-known garden, where the other fruit and vegetables gave him a warm welcome. “Thank you, I hope to adapt easily to my new country!”, the Melon told them with excitement and tried to learn all the habits and customs of our place.

As the days passed however, he found it more and more difficult to fit in. “Why don’t you find a sport to occupy your mind?”, the orange bell pepper, who really loved football, advised him. So he thought of picking up taekwondo, as to learn self-defense on one hand, and have something to remind him of his country of origin, Korea, on the other hand, as taekwondo is a Korean martial art.

After searching thoroughly, he found the best taekwondo school in Athens, which he registered to. With great enthusiasm, and after supplying himself with proper clothes, he attended his first class fully prepared. He there met other fruit and vegetables, most of which had little or zero experience in taekwondo.

“You will learn far more than a martial art here. You will learn a whole new way of life”, their teacher told them the first day, and they listened to him with great attention. He then explained to them that taekwondo is based on five virtues: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and possessing an indomitable spirit. He even went so far as to stress the importance of the perseverance required for someone to beat pain and become a taekwondo warrior. Most of the fruit and vegetables, with our good Korean Melon first, were too excited to learn the moves so as to give any importance to those words.