We Care

Jiu Jitsu is an activity that has taken a martial art and morphed it into a lifestyle. It’s difficult to explain to people, even other martial artists, who don’t train Jiu Jitsu, how a person can become so encapsulated by it that they spend most of their waking moments thinking about training. People work so they are able to make money to pay (depending on where they live) exorbitant fees to step on a tatami mat and attempt to subdue their best friends. Outside of a few people, my best friends all practice Jiu Jitsu. Some I have known for decades, some I have known for months. Regardless of the time, the common denominator among these relationships is that we care about Jiu Jitsu, and we care about each other.

With my friend Fernando Reis at Alliance Headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil.

That care brings us back to the Jiu Jitsu lifestyle. The idea of a Jiu Jitsu lifestyle is a competitive advantage that schools have used in their marketing for years. Within this lifestyle, people from all backgrounds are able to come together and train. On the mat, there is a care for others because of the obvious physical precautions taken, yet there is a care more common and unspoken about. It is a care that connects the core of every practitioner, a care that energetically empathizes as each “Oss” is uttered. What is that care? The care of shared struggle, of mutual mettle as we look to progress.

The day I received my black belt, handed to me by Igor Gracie.

Progress, refinement, and perfection are principles that we tend to uphold as we advance in our Jiu Jitsu lifestyle. These same principles are what many also seek in their lives outside of Jiu Jitsu. In light of the current global awakening, people are looking to become allies of their Black brothers and sisters, remember those principles of Jiu Jitsu. Accepting those principles is acknowledging the need to improve. The process to improve is a battle, and one that creates concord. And with concord, we care.

A Saturday open mat with my amazing friends at Nova União in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

We care about your race, we care about your gender, we care about your sexual orientation, we care about your disability, we care about your religion (or lack thereof), we care about your background, we care about your family, we care about you.

Who? You.

Why? Because you are a person on this planet, who cares about us too.

See you on the mat when this is over. Oss.