Those are good questions posted by White Warlock. You need to match the philosophy and intention of the martial with your own. If you are looking for a traditional MA that provides a viable form of self defense, and includes the flashy TKD type kicks, I suggest you check into Tang Soo Do and Hapkido. TSD is very similar to TKD but focuses more on hand techniques than TKD does. Hapkido combines the kicks of TKD, the joint lock, escape and throwing techniques of Aikido, the hand strikes of Japanese "karate", and the ground fighting skills of Ju-Jitsu. It is a very well rounded MA.