Years ago, before I started high school in Saginaw and went off to college, I was learning Tae Kwon Do from a local teacher in rural Michigan where I grew up. This local teacher happened to be a national competitor in his competitions days and is now a 7th-degree master blackbelt. It was this teacher that ignited my love for martial arts and taught me so many life lessons, especially the importance of discipline, at such an impressionable time in my life.

It was always weird to me that such an accomplished man and martial artist lived in what most consider “the middle of nowhere.” One day in class he told a story, the one portrayed in the video above, about how he ended up making his way to Bad Axe, MI as a refugee. There was a reason we bowed to the American flag before class. The freedoms we enjoy here in America are blessings, blessings that didn’t exist for him as a child and still don’t exist for many in the world today.

Many years later, after college, I stopped back into the restaurant that his family owns in Bad Axe, MI, and I talked to him about my plans to travel and my plans to travel to Cambodia in particular. He gave me his advice and phone number to call in case I needed help, but what I received when I got to Cambodia was an even greater appreciation and respect for a great man who impacted my life more than he probably knows. Being at the killing fields I got to connect the dots back to that story from class and really feel the inhumanity that took place and understand the perspective that he was trying to instill in us through Tae Kwon Do.

I feel really fortunate to have been taught and impacted so greatly by this teacher and I am really excited to be able to share this story so that it can impact others as well. That wouldn’t be possible or nearly as effective without the beautiful film put together by his son, David Siev. I highly encourage you to take 15 minutes out of your day and watch this film. You’ll be better for it!