Sometimes

In Jujitsu, I feel like a one armed man in a ass kicking contest.

Jujitsu- Worship or Gift?

(This article may or may not get me in trouble, but I am willing to take the risk.)

Sometime ago I saw a T-shirt design that said “I Worship Jiu-jitsu”; at first I laughed at the idea of someone actually worshiping the very art. But as I allowed myself the time to think about this statement, I wondered if there might be some truth behind this statement, rather than it being a joke. Yet as I’ve been around looked around the grappling community, there’re people that are flat out obsessed with the art. It’s hard to not think about it, even as I was going for a ride I found myself dreaming about doing a butterfly sweep on someone than choking them to win a gold medal. Jiu-Jitsu is a great sport, and it has great health benefits for me. If you don’t get a lot of physical contact with people, Jiu-Jitsu is a great way to have that area filled in your life, you even can feel better about yourself mentally and emotionally after a hard work out on the mats, but is this very are meant to be “Worshiped”, as in the form of a deity? In my estimation, I don’t think so. Yet I think it is a gift passed down from the Japanese, Brazilians and onto today’s No-Gi experts. For me, as one with Cerebral Palsy, the ability for me to put down my canes every week, crawl unto the mats and perfect the art of choking someone is a gift. The ability to train my body to do different things involved with grappling is a gift, not something to be idolized. I can see people getting pissed off right now, because you might feel like I’m trying to take something from you, but relax and don’t wet your pants. I only want people in the grappling community to take a few steps back and maybe take a breather for a second. Have you become so obsessed with this beautiful art that you very quickly and even blindly start taking it for granted? I think of other physically challenged people who are wheel chair bound almost 24/7, and how they must love to be able to get out from their confines and do just basics of what we do everyday on the mats. Thinking in this way, it makes one slow their roll pretty quickly. It humbles me to know that I have such a low form of C.P. It humbles me that I get show up every week and grapple, because I could not be able too, I could have been born with something far worse. I am thankful for the gift that I have each and every week. Is it wrong to want to progress at this craft and have the honor of being deemed a champion? By no means, but we all need to come back down to earth and be thankful for our bodies and being able to train every day. Let us show and treat each other with respect, dignity and honor. And may are eyes be opened to this gift, and may we see it as such.

-Brandon/The CP Grappler