I've been watching the debates and looking at the platforms all election season. I would categorize myself, generally, as a moderate-liberal, whatever that actually means these days. I say that in the interest of full disclosure.
I came away Tuesday night feeling incredibly frustrated with both Romney and Obama. It started with the first question, which was particularly relevant to me as a twenty something aspiring PhD in Sociology. Here's a link to the debate video. The education question and both candidates' responses run from the one minute mark to the nine minute mark.
http://www.youtube.com/politics?feature=etp-pv-ype-3bff3fd3f0
Eight minutes, and neither candidate could give a real solution to the job crisis recent college graduates are currently facing. Sure, I've heard talk of increasing manufacturing jobs, which helps people with those kinds of degrees or training. But much of my generation, who were born in the mid eighties and nineties, had a very different idea of the work we would be doing when we grew up. Traditional manufacturing jobs aren't going to do a lot for us. And neither is promising a return to the economic status-quo of the late nineties and early 2000's. A lot of us, myself included, went into knowledge producing fields because that's what we were prepared for throughout our entire lives. For my part, my education set me on a very specific path to study social behavior, use statistics, and perform generally intellectual work. Now, when folks like me ask where the jobs are, it seems that the only answers are that we are over-educated, lacking marketable skills, and should have been more practical.
That answer isn't good enough. You don't get to raise an entire generation to march into a new century of promise, wonder, and progress, then blame them for their unemployment when the last generations' greed and irresponsibility put us in this predicament.
The larger issue for me is that my generation is going to be paying for the sins of our parents' generation. We are going to have to pay off the national deficit. We are going to have to find a way to support an increasing proportion of senior citizens. We are going to have to clean up the mess. And it is frustrating.
My generation has the education and know-how to get work done faster than our parents did, yet we are still paid, for the most part, according to our time rather than our results. We are concerned with sustainability because we have to be, because environmental issues are already affecting us. And we are willing to sacrifice for the greater good, as evidenced by the number of young soldiers who have given their lives in wars started before a lot of us could even vote.
I want to hear about fundamental changes we can make as a country to give millennial generation a shot at the society we dreamed of. Where we work to live, not live to work. Where we can finish our education and actually use our degrees. Where we don't have to spend our entire lives paying down the last generations' debts. Where we are willing to put people over principles. And where young people are actually rewarded for being more productive than their parents were.
That last point is really important to me. Work has changed in the last twenty years dramatically, but we still use an arcane system to reimburse people for what they do. I can find, retrieve, and summarize exponentially more academic literature than graduate students even ten years ago. It's not because I'm "better", it's because technology allows me to do more in less time. Logically, that means I should either a) be able to spend less time working and receive the same compensation (adjusted for inflation) or b) be paid more for being able to get more done. Neither, however, is actually the case. Instead, academic positions have become increasingly competitive and less secure. And that's just me. Our society has changed tremendously and is continuing to change at an even quicker rate, but we are playing by social and economic rules that are outdated and, frankly, counterproductive.
Give me a candidate who understands and is willing to deal with that, and I will gladly deliver my vote.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
How Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu made my life better.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art that has gained a lot of popularity since the 1990's, when it was used to great effect by Royce Gracie to dominate the early UFC tournaments. Perhaps due to its usage in the mixed-martial arts world, BJJ is associated with the more competitive aspects of martial arts, but for me, it's been a window into a better understanding of myself and others. It has improved my life physically, mentally, and spiritually in ways I can't completely understand. But I felt inspired by the following video to share some of my experiences. Here, Rener Gracie talks about using BJJ to solve bullying problems in school.
As I told one of my BJJ instructors yesterday, I had not been a physically active person in a very long time when I started training. At the age of 27 I was not as healthy as I felt like I should be, and I was tired of feeling like crap about it. A year and a half later, that has definitely changed. But, more importantly, BJJ has helped me deal with some issues that have bothered me since I was a kid.
I was bullied a lot as a kid, and it killed my self-esteem. I remember very clearly being in fifth grade and getting beat up by a bully on the playground. A kid threw me on the ground and hit me, then held me down while a girl kicked me. It was humiliating and made me feel inferior. I've carried that with me for a long time. In middle school, a group of kids threw me down a hill, then held me down and beat me up again during recess. These were "good kids" in the eyes of others, and I remember feeling so awful about myself because no one stood up for me. I wasn't very popular, and I internalized that as I grew up.
I remember telling my teachers about bullying incidents, but this only made it worse for me. From then on I felt like I couldn't handle my own problems, and other kids ostracized me because the only way I could deal with conflict was to tattle-tell. It's no wonder I've had self-esteem problems my whole life.
BJJ changed my life not only by making me more physically fit, but by changing how I see myself in relation to others. When you are routinely grappling with people who are bigger and stronger than you, and surviving, it changes your mindset. I am no where near being a competitive BJJ player, but I feel like I can survive and keep myself from being harmed against an untrained opponent. That level of confidence alone changes the level of confidence I bring to interacting with other people in a variety of situations.
In the film Red Belt, the main character provides an excellent insight on conflict.
"Everything has a force. You embrace it or deflect it. Why oppose it?"
Rener Gracie says something very similar in the Bully Proof promotions when he says that BJJ teaches people to fight fire with water, instead of more fire. This is a core concept in BJJ, that if we try to meet strength with strength, we are leaving too much to chance. Instead, we use technique, leverage, and our knowledge to escape and reverse a situation. This is a huge life lesson that, to me, can only be taught through experience. In the relative safety of the school, or barra, we experience what it is to be threatened, to lose, and to stop using direct force to deal with the threat. It is a lab for life.
I've noticed a huge difference in how I deal with things, and how I respond to things, since taking up BJJ. I realize, most of the time, that responding to insults and offenses by getting angry and offended is absolutely pointless. Understanding the situation and changing the terms so that everyone can learn something, or at the very least, removing myself from harms way, has been a much less stressful way to go about my business. I'm still getting better at this (I'm a white belt in more ways than one), but the difference has already been huge.
Spiritually, BJJ has given me an awareness that is very difficult to explain. When you are grappling, or rolling, with someone, you have to be present without over-asserting your will over the situation. There is an ebb and flow of action and reaction, and I feel at my best when I am mindfully waiting for my opportunity to act, and acting quickly when it arises. This helps in my faith walk tremendously. In Christianity, and any other spiritual discipline, it is easy to get caught up in the determinism vs free will argument. The practice of BJJ, however, has revealed a complimentary relationship between choice and non-choice for me. Just like in the gym, there are opportunities to act in our lives, but there may only be a one or two "good" choices at a given time. The more we practice, the more natural those choices become, until they are such a part of ourselves that we simply "do" instead of "decide".
All of this is simply to say that BJJ, as a discipline, is an enormous benefit to my life. I'd like to encourage anyone who is struggling with their physical fitness, their state-of-mind, or anything else to take a look at it. If you are a parent of a child who is suffering from bullying or just poor self-esteem to look for a BJJ school that will work with them. Rener's system, Bully Proof, is well organized and has generally been well received, so I might start there (I have no skin in the game on this one, I'm just a believer). However, there are tons of BJJ schools out there with lots of approaches, so take a look and see what you like. Speaking from my experience, though, if a kid is being bullied, you need to equip them to deal with it because they will carry it with them well into adulthood.
BJJ will push you and challenge you in ways you will not be able to predict. It requires discipline, humility, openness, humor, and respect. But the returns are exponential.
~Phil
As I told one of my BJJ instructors yesterday, I had not been a physically active person in a very long time when I started training. At the age of 27 I was not as healthy as I felt like I should be, and I was tired of feeling like crap about it. A year and a half later, that has definitely changed. But, more importantly, BJJ has helped me deal with some issues that have bothered me since I was a kid.
I was bullied a lot as a kid, and it killed my self-esteem. I remember very clearly being in fifth grade and getting beat up by a bully on the playground. A kid threw me on the ground and hit me, then held me down while a girl kicked me. It was humiliating and made me feel inferior. I've carried that with me for a long time. In middle school, a group of kids threw me down a hill, then held me down and beat me up again during recess. These were "good kids" in the eyes of others, and I remember feeling so awful about myself because no one stood up for me. I wasn't very popular, and I internalized that as I grew up.
I remember telling my teachers about bullying incidents, but this only made it worse for me. From then on I felt like I couldn't handle my own problems, and other kids ostracized me because the only way I could deal with conflict was to tattle-tell. It's no wonder I've had self-esteem problems my whole life.
BJJ changed my life not only by making me more physically fit, but by changing how I see myself in relation to others. When you are routinely grappling with people who are bigger and stronger than you, and surviving, it changes your mindset. I am no where near being a competitive BJJ player, but I feel like I can survive and keep myself from being harmed against an untrained opponent. That level of confidence alone changes the level of confidence I bring to interacting with other people in a variety of situations.
In the film Red Belt, the main character provides an excellent insight on conflict.
"Everything has a force. You embrace it or deflect it. Why oppose it?"
Rener Gracie says something very similar in the Bully Proof promotions when he says that BJJ teaches people to fight fire with water, instead of more fire. This is a core concept in BJJ, that if we try to meet strength with strength, we are leaving too much to chance. Instead, we use technique, leverage, and our knowledge to escape and reverse a situation. This is a huge life lesson that, to me, can only be taught through experience. In the relative safety of the school, or barra, we experience what it is to be threatened, to lose, and to stop using direct force to deal with the threat. It is a lab for life.
I've noticed a huge difference in how I deal with things, and how I respond to things, since taking up BJJ. I realize, most of the time, that responding to insults and offenses by getting angry and offended is absolutely pointless. Understanding the situation and changing the terms so that everyone can learn something, or at the very least, removing myself from harms way, has been a much less stressful way to go about my business. I'm still getting better at this (I'm a white belt in more ways than one), but the difference has already been huge.
Spiritually, BJJ has given me an awareness that is very difficult to explain. When you are grappling, or rolling, with someone, you have to be present without over-asserting your will over the situation. There is an ebb and flow of action and reaction, and I feel at my best when I am mindfully waiting for my opportunity to act, and acting quickly when it arises. This helps in my faith walk tremendously. In Christianity, and any other spiritual discipline, it is easy to get caught up in the determinism vs free will argument. The practice of BJJ, however, has revealed a complimentary relationship between choice and non-choice for me. Just like in the gym, there are opportunities to act in our lives, but there may only be a one or two "good" choices at a given time. The more we practice, the more natural those choices become, until they are such a part of ourselves that we simply "do" instead of "decide".
All of this is simply to say that BJJ, as a discipline, is an enormous benefit to my life. I'd like to encourage anyone who is struggling with their physical fitness, their state-of-mind, or anything else to take a look at it. If you are a parent of a child who is suffering from bullying or just poor self-esteem to look for a BJJ school that will work with them. Rener's system, Bully Proof, is well organized and has generally been well received, so I might start there (I have no skin in the game on this one, I'm just a believer). However, there are tons of BJJ schools out there with lots of approaches, so take a look and see what you like. Speaking from my experience, though, if a kid is being bullied, you need to equip them to deal with it because they will carry it with them well into adulthood.
BJJ will push you and challenge you in ways you will not be able to predict. It requires discipline, humility, openness, humor, and respect. But the returns are exponential.
~Phil
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