ACTS OF JERKINESS

Probably the most important requirement to earn a black belt in my school is the Acts of Kindness requirement. Every black belt candidate must record at least one thousand acts of kindness in the year. I stress the ‘record’ aspect of the requirement.

I don’t think anyone can argue the value and purpose of performing an act of kindness to earn a black belt. Humbleness and empathy are important attributes for a person looking to earn recognition for their fighting ability. As a martial artist, I am not interested in feeding anyone’s ego or narcissistic attitude. Knowledge with humility is what I value.

Despite the obvious value of such a requirement, I get a lot of questions and even objections about the recording aspect of the requirement. “I do dozens of kind acts everyday. Why would I write them all down?” Is the most common argument against recording each act. Sometimes the value of something may seem so obvious that people do not delve deeper into the depth of that value.

Perhaps if I changed the requirement from recording ‘Acts of Kindness’ to recording ‘Acts of Jerkiness’, I would generate deeper understanding and appreciation for the potential of the requirement. For me acts of kindness are easy, just like they are for everyone else. Most of us are naturally kind. However when I started recording my acts of kindness, I became much more mindful and aware of the kind acts I was doing but more importantly, I began noticing a lot of opportunities to be even more kind that I had been missing.

Maybe if I kept closer track of all the times in a day I am actually being somewhat of a jerk, I would become more kind. Sometimes focusing on the negative helps us eliminate the negatives to make our lives more positive.

Master and mediocrity, kindness and jerkiness. Two sides of the same coins

. Where you find one, you will find the other. The Yin and the Yang.

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” —The 14th Dalai Lama (b. 1935)