Who we are is largely about where we came from. We don't emerge whole from nothing. We come from parents; our parents had parents. Tradition is passed down the line. Now we have the digital age. We have access to virtually limitless amounts of information, but where do we get our values?
We are shaped by the traditions and values presented to us, especially in our formative years. The people who raise us along with school and media shape our values. Societies survive based on a national identity. How do we become one people from many? Money doesn't do it; Netflix doesn't do it. So, if money and television can't unite a people then what can? We live in the richest period ever. When you account for lifestyle, medicine, technology and transportation then we see that many people reap the benefits. I'm not saying everyone is earning a substantial income, but the world is richer than it ever has been before. Everybody has access to the Internet. We have less people going hungry now. We see an overall decline in the trend (https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org). We haven't obliterated all human suffering, but we are making a substantial dent. How did we get from a humble union fighting the British overlords to now? We had a doctrine that pulled us together and against a fascistic monarchy.
The values that bound us together made us stronger than the Redcoats. We fought for freedom. The shared belief, motivated by making a better society, gave us the strength to endure the bloodshed. We became a united people, and then had to work out the kinks. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in a horrible civil war. Women later gained the right to vote. We keep moving the benchmark of what a society can be. It seems like the generations now lose sight of how tough life was, and we've suffered a mass amnesia. We may even be forgetting the values that got us here. Values bind families together. Values are not trivial. We pass down our knowledge and wisdom to subsequent generations so that they may do better.
I look to Jiu-Jitsu as a practice that encompasses all the values that made America great. A Jiu-Jitsu session is about people working together. there are no handouts. It's about meritocracy, teamwork, cooperation, family and sacrifice. Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were both practitioners of grappling arts. I don't think it's an arbitrary fact. It speaks to their will to pull a people together. When we value our home, our mats, our teammates and a practice, then we abandon our own selfish intentions. Working on ourselves is not selfish. It is important to work ourselves, with values in mind, to serve others. Jiu-Jitsu is that practice.
We may have access to every Jiu-Jitsu tutorial out there on Youtube. We can see hundreds of people talk about how to escape guard, but with what purpose. it's a narrow scope of mechanics. We lose the values in the move. We can't escape our human nature. We can see tutorials on how to mitigate our own shortcomings. It's another thing altogether to engage in a practice. The practice, our community and our family can show us the way. Values live in work. They aren't pretty colors on a screen.