Joey was one of the most successful spies the US had during WWII. She undoubtedly saved an untold number of lives, both U.S. troops and civilians. She reported Japanese troops movements. Successfully transmitted secret messages as well as vital supplies to allied forces. She did a great deal of drawing up maps of Japanese weapon emplacements and fortifications.

One of her most legendary missions involved walking about fifty miles to give a map she drew of the Japanese mine fields that allied forces needed to trek through. Walking through active combat, being chased by river pirates, all while fatigued and ill. Enemy forces never apprehended her nor searched her. She was untouchable!

What special training and skills did Joey have to be such an amazing spy? Years of training? Nope, she had none. She was a very young Filipina girl who just wanted to help the U.S. end the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during WWII and had nothing to lose.

Was she super strong? Super-fast and sneaky? Maybe she wore a trench coat, hat, and fake glasses with a big nose and mustache? I kind of hope that’s true. But no, it was none of these things. Josephina “Joey” Guerrero had one attribute going for her. One that no one would ever choose to have. She had Leprosy. The Japanese wanted to apprehend and search her on many occasions. But no one wanted to get close to her once they saw the lesions on her face.

Not only did Joey make great use of having Leprosy by being a great spy, but she also went on to make even more waves. After the war, she entered a Leprosarium with six hundred others with Leprosy. The Leprosarium was broken down, disgusting, and heavily understaffed. With her ties to the U.S. Military and her high regard for being an amazing spy, she asked for help renovating the building and adding staff.

The U.S. obliged and the quality of life for everyone in the Leprosarium went way up. She then obtained a U.S. Visa. Spent nine years going through treatments for her Leprosy. And become a successful activist in destigmatizing Leprosy. She was even awarded the Medal of Freedom. How many people in her position would have rolled over and given up?

We all have things we don’t like about ourselves. Some of it we can change. Some of it we cannot. As in the story above, those things we don’t like, don’t have to be a curse. While no one wants to have an illness or life altering traumatic issue, that doesn’t mean we have to give up. I know this is news to a lot of people, but life is not fair. I know, I know! Who knew, right?

This world, and history, is made up of people who went through hell and made something positive out of, or despite, their personal tortures. Virtually every human in history who did something amazing and changed lives for the better had to overcome serious issues. I picked out just one that many people don’t know about for this blog post.

I see this play out in martial arts often. Both in my classes and in history. One story that pops up regarding Taekwondo is General Choi, the father of Taekwondo. He was quite small, weak, and sickly as a child. As the story goes, Choi was playing cards against a much larger man that won all his money. Upon losing, Choi threw an ink bottle at his head, and ran. Shortly after, he traveled to Japan for education and decided he needed to learn how to defend himself, knowing that man would be waiting to pummel him when he returned from Japan.

It’s because of that fear of being pummeled, that lead Choi to learning martial arts. Specifically, Shotokan Karate, the bases for which Taekwondo was developed. Maybe if Choi was a larger man (or not a jerk for throwing an ink bottle at a guy’s head), we wouldn’t have Taekwondo. The most practiced martial art on the planet.

My point of all of this as it regards martial arts is that we look at our supposed downfalls too often and proclaim we can’t do something. Or that others are better since they do not have the same issue. Nonsense. Especially when it comes to martial arts training. The only thing that matters is you and who you are and how you can improve the quality of your life by training.

Have a severely damaged leg that requires the use of a cane? Great! You now have an unsuspecting weapon in your hand all day long! Are you underweight and generally weaker than most? Excellent! Your technique will be insanely precise compared to those with much more size and strength who muscle their way through techniques and never learn the art on a deeper level. Some of the best martial arts instructors in the world were that said “weak” person. They know technique on a level most will never come close to understanding.

Uncoordinated to the point of embarrassment? Perfect! No one benefits more from martial arts training than you! Born with two heads? Fantastic! You literally have a pair of eyes that can watch your back! Yin and Yang, or in Korean culture the Taeguk symbol, represent this well. For every negative there is a positive. You can’t have one without the other.

These “ailments” aren’t what hold people back. Their mindset does. You’re exactly who you should be right now. Tomorrow may be different. Maybe there’s something you don’t like about yourself that you can change. Do it. Just don’t assume that it will fix your mindset. You’ll just find the next thing that’s deemed “wrong” or “broken”. There will always be something to improve as no one is perfect. It would be boring world if we were.

It’s not easy to have something terrible happen and suddenly be positive about it. Nor is that reasonable in any regard. If I had my leg bitten off by a shark while out swimming in the ocean, I would be devastated. But I also know the following year I would have some pretty sweet Halloween costume ideas that I’d be excited about that only work with one leg.

Everything in this world is relative. If humans were all naturally blind, no one would complain about being blind. We would just complain about something else. It seems to be our favorite pastime. I’m not saying we need to enjoy losing a limb or gaining a disease. Just that harping on the negative won’t change anything nor present any opportunities.

Much of our life is based on our perspective and how we compare ourselves and our lives to what we deem as “normal”. If we can’t change what’s happened to us or the genetics we were born with, maybe we need to try changing our perspective or what we deem “normal”. Normal is boring and just as hard to obtain as “perfection” as it doesn’t really exist. Lean into your uniqueness and make use of it!