A comedian writing in his column in the Peace Weekly uses the Korean phrase: 'sweat does not lie', and tells us what he has learned about effort and results. He has always liked the meaning of the phrase 'sweat does not lie'. As a child it meant little but when he began playing sports, it began to make sense. As a child after playing and sweating he would come into the house and take a refreshing shower. However, with sports you always have the win and lose divide, and one's goal is to win.
When in high school, he became interested in Hapgido (Korean self-defense martial art) and spent all his time outside of school, working out in the gym. He did achieve the silver medal in the National Hapgido tournament for his efforts.
His spirits were high. He began to have goals which he tried to reach, which developed into a habit. To reach the target he had to sweat, and this became his ironclad rule of life.
In college, his major was computer science, and he wanted to master the use of the computer but where did the sweat come into play with the computer? You sat down and used the fingers on a keyboard, there was no sweat involved. However, when he struck the keys, they were struck to sweat. He gave his best to the study and did feel drops of sweat on his back.
There are many kinds of sweat: the kind one experiences in sports, the sweat from eating hot foods, and the kind of sweat when you need to go to the toilet and none are in sight.
After military service, he began working as a gag-man--a stand-up comedian. During this period, there were many times he experienced cold sweat. Going on the stage he trembled and was overcome with fear. When given lines to memorize before going on the stage by his elders, he was petrified.
Gradually, these feeling began to disappear. Often he would come down from the stage and forget what he said during the performance. He is thankful for the experience; the cold sweat disappeared, and with the communication with his audience during his performances he now sweats.
With acquaintances, he reminds them to sweat. He tells them not to lean on family or college classmates but give themselves to the work at hand, and learn to sweat and not look for recognition but learn to satisfy oneself.
