Mediocrity Loves Company

One aspect of human nature that I have never found easy to accept or understand is our tendency to resist accountability for our own mediocrity. People have no difficulty whatsoever in finding an excuse to not try or put in the effort to improve their situation and at the same time they will try to drag those around them into their pit of ordinariness to lessen their sense of shame and guilt.

I have had my share of students who were just not willing to do what it takes to bring their training up to a level that was conducive with acceptable progress. While some of them just drift away without a trace, some have attempted to convince others to join them in giving up. Regardless of how they choose to cease their training, I accept full responsibility for their decision. If I had taken more time to reach and inspire them perhaps they would have been able to carry on.

In fact I find myself losing sleep over most of my students who, for one reason or another, have chosen to end their training. When I think of everything kung fu has done for me and my life, I can’t help but wonder if the student I failed to inspire today may end up on a path of mediocrity that could have been avoided if only they would have stayed the course in their training. What if my original instructors had treated me with complete indifference such that I would not have chosen the path I did? I can’t imagine my life without my kung fu and everything it has helped me achieve.

On that note I know I am a very lucky man. I am blessed with twenty student UBBT members who have accepted to take this journey with me. The example some of them are setting, not only for the rest of my school but our entire community, is turning out to be nothing short of legendary. Life becomes effortless when one is surrounded by such positive examples of mastery.

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)