Topic: "Be Strong to be Useful" But are we? Article

[Adam McC]

Here is a article I just wrote, it describes my concerns for the future of the art of Parkour. If you like it, I would really appreciate if you would spread it, so that it can reach as many people as possible.


The full article can be found here:

http://hawaiipk.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=1


Spiderman. Who doesn't know about Spidey? Especially traceurs. We are compared to Spidey almost on a daily basis. Just about all of our friends and family have called us Spiderman at least once, at some point in time. Why? Because we climb on buildings and scale walls? Because we appear to practically fly.. and defy common knowledge of physics and the natural ability of mankind? What is the connection?

The truth, it seems, is far different than what most would think. Why is Spiderman so close to, and associated with, the world of Parkour? The answer is simple. Uncle Ben.

"With great power, comes great responsibility". These words are engrained in the minds of the youth all over the world. This concept brought to us by Uncle Ben is not new, either. The Declaration of Independence itself states basically that to sustain man's freedom, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action. Responsibility is as old as Freedom itself. Whether it be freedom of religion or freedom of movement, responsibility is as important as the freedoms themselves.

Georges Hébert and his system of belief known as the "Natural Method" lies at the very core of the philosophy that is Parkour. "Etre fort pour être utile". "Be strong to be useful". The motto of Georges Hébert speaks along side Uncle Ben and Thomas Jefferson. Strength power, and ability. Usefulness and responsibility. What do these words mean to us? Why are they so important?


Let me wander off track for a moment, and tell a short story. Here we are in a busy city environment, 20 years ago. Cars whizzing left and right, hundreds of lights dazzle the vision. Business men and women pace the sidewalks, sipping coffee on their way to meetings and offices. A car screeches, a woman screams in agony. Papers litter the hood of a car, which is stopped short in the center of a busy intersection. A woman has been hit, the car wheels rest on her body, and she's in bad shape. Let us suppose that there is but one man who has this new fangled device known as a cell phone. Let us also suppose that there is an experienced doctor on scene. Finally, suppose there is a weight lifter standing by. The doctor walks away, as does the weight lifter, and the man with the phone does nothing. Shortly, the woman dies.

This is an example of ability without responsibility. Nobody doubts the doctor has skill, and that he practices his skill at home, or at work, and earns good money. He may be a great doctor, but he is a great doctor with no responsibility. The weight lifter has trained hard, and has the strength of many men. He may even be the strongest in the world. The man with the phone may well know exactly how to use his phone, and nobody doubts this. He may talk to his co-workers on a daily, even hourly basis, but he does not call for help when his phone is truly needed, so what does it matter?

Parkour is a noble art. We proclaim it's advantages with enthusiasm to all who may lend an ear, explaining to them its positive effect on our bodies, how it makes us strong and able, and how we can pull our bodies over walls in the blink of an eye. The abilities we achieve, executing skills with such precision that some may call them impossible. The mental power we reach, to commit and follow through with our goals. Our power, our abilities, our strength. But what makes us different from that skilled doctor, or the man with the fancy phone, or the strongman? The man with the phone has a new, amazing ability that ninety-five percent of the world does not. He can contact anyone, anywhere. The doctor has spent a large portion of his life learning the trade of medicine and healing. He is highly skilled. The weightlifter has worked hard to grow his muscles and strength. Here we see people with their own individual skills equivalent to our own. But in their story, all of it meant nothing. How frustrating.... for they did not use their skills wisely.

Do we?

We train to improve ourselves. We make ourselves.. amazing! But have you saved a life yet? Have you helped somebody else with your new-found skills? Has Parkour improved somebody else's life? If you have helped, has it balanced out the people you have frustrated, startled, or scared? We speak of chase, and efficiency, and mastering vaults and techniques. Let me ask you this. How many times in your life do you really intend on using these techniques for any purpose except training?  Will you ever need to reach a place in the most efficient way possible? Will you ever need to have a perfect dash vault? Will you ever run for your life? And if you do, will you truly vault that rail set, or just keep running past it? And even if you do run, and you do escape in a more efficient manner than your chaser, who have you benefitted, except yourself?

Imagine buying an expensive telescope. You tell your friends you have a telescope. You paid good money for the telescope. You admire the telescope. You never use the telescope. You never gaze upon a single star. Stupid, no? Wasteful, even. To gain skills in Parkour, to make videos and show people your Parkour, to donate your good time to training, to enjoy your progression and improvement, and do nothing more? What do you call that? What has Parkour done? What meaning have you given it?

I propose this. I challenge every person who reads this to go watch Spiderman one more time. I challenge every person who reads this to go over the Declaration of Independence. I challenge everyone here to take a look at the "Natural Method" one more time.  Then I want you to not consider what Parkour has done for you, nor what you have done for Parkour, but instead, how the skills that Parkour has given you have affected the rest of the world. Because I don't care how good you are at Parkour. I care about how you use it, because I'm a part of the rest of the world.

We train hard so we may become more and more powerful, more and more skilled, more and more strong. We must realize that with this strength, power, and ability, comes an equal responsibility. Would you expect the doctor to help the woman under the car? Would you expect the man to use his phone? Would you expect the strong-man to assist? I would. And I expect the same from you. How you become useful is your choice, and your path. That... is true freedom, and true responsibility.

Uncle Ben would be proud.



-Adam McC

[Cellar]

It's a very nice article. It would be a great speech at a jam as well. You also present good ideas that every traceur should take to heart. The only problem with challenging us to use our skills and talents to help other people is that for the most part, there isn't a lot that we can do unless we're in the right place at the right time. The doctor, strongman, and cell phone guy had to be near the accident in order to even consider helping. If the doctor were 10 blocks away, there's nothing he could have done and no way he could have even known about the incident. That does not in anyway negate your point. If we were to witness a situation in which we could use parkour to help someone else, we have a responsibility to do so. The only problem is that those situations are rarely seen.

[Shae Perkins]

Good article, but one thing: I actually found it kinda offensive. Regardless of what skills I trained physical, mental, Parkour, or not; I will, to the fullest of my ability, help people when I can. I see what you mean that some people don't really take the philosophy to heart. But in the situation you presented those people are really irresponsible with their power, they're just pieces of crap.

[Sam Zytka]

the only problem is that you manipulated the situation to make your argument most powerful, all of these people the weightlifter, the man with the phone, and the doctor, have their abilities because of their career and the only career for parkour is basically in the video industry in which case you are using your abilities (whether its real or not) to entertain people.  But since most people who practice don't become stunt doubles and such and could probably help people with whatever career they are following. There is a big difference between sport and career.  Another problem is that you didnt list any situations where your parkour training would come to benefit someone else.  The only thing i can think of is that most people who practice parkour (of course their are they outliers that prove the idea) learn how to get past things in life outside their parkour training and it may sound elitist, but since i started parkour i am a much better student in school and a much better all around person.  As the yamakasi say in numerous videos "you must have sport in your life" and because i practice parkour it 1. takes up a lot of time and 2. makes me an all around better person(and i dont mean better then everyone else i mean i have become a better person myself) 3. Keeps me out of trouble.   I can guarantee it keeps most kids of out trouble with the law and such because they practice and need to focus on their training. An example of how this helped me is that if i wanted to i could go out and party and drink alcohol and such like a lot of people around me do, of course i dont because since i started doing parkour i have taken care of my body and ive gained respect for my body and wont destroy it with drugs or alcohol.  It may sound typical and cliche but it is true.  So the only way i think my Parkour abilities could better others would be either teaching someone parkour (which these internet forums do, so if you think about it we are being responsible and putting are abilities to use by educating others) or by not getting into bad habits and crime because you are passionate about your parkour training.  There is no other situation that i could think of where your parkour abilities could help you.  Another problem with your argument is that in your situation the three people had it as their career, they studied it and even though we do study parkour, it isnt a career and shouldnt be taken that way at all.  Its a sport.  A baseball player doesn't benefit others with his skill to hit a baseball very far or being able to throw a ball very far.  That does not mean all of his training went to waste because he can't really help people other then entertain them.  And that is basically what parkour is for outside viewers, entertainment.  But if that baseball player did have to maybe hit a mugger who just stole a ladies purse with a rock from far away i guarantee he would at least try to because being involved in sports usually makes you an all around better person as i mentioned earlier.

[Andy Animus Tran]

I think you could use an editor. 

Personally, I always have hated the Spider-Man reference because Spider-Man reflects nothing of what we do or who we are.  Parker had his abilities THRUST upon him, and feels responsible for that.  Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, CHOOSES to train...  And he does so with dedication, and diligence..  Why?  To help others.

I will severely disagree with Sam...  He has his opinions, sure, and they are his right... But in my opinion, if you have the ability, for WHATEVER reason, you have the OBLIGATION (not the responsibility) to help whenever possible.  Parkour is not just about the ability to move, but the capacities of movement.  We train in a LOT of different varieties that can be useful to others.  Leave No Trace was developed for just that reason... not to only clean what is immediately accessible and viewable, but to reach those places that get ungodly filthy and are unnaccessible.. and this is a very simple thing that isn't one of thsoe dire "life or death" situations.  If you can help someone carry something, then do it.  We've trained for much worse and much more.. but to think of these great, catastrophic emergencies is looking at the world through a lens.. and we're better than that, really.  Why do we have to keep looking at these bigger examples when the smaller ones are so much more frequent and so much of the same?

Have I ever saved a life because of my training?  No.  Have I prevented someone from getting hurt?  Yes.  Have I been able to make someone's day easier?  HELL yes.

Sit down and ask yourself why you train..  Is it just for yourself, or is it for others, too?  Because the intention was, at least, to help yourself and your family.  The result, though.. is an international community of philanthropists.  And those who turn away from that responsibility lose a little bit of my respect, accordingly, only because I feel this is our duty.

[toconsam]

As one of my few (of first posts here) I would like to say good job. The article is well done.

However I do not agree with it. If you were to ask the same question to many many other people doing many many other things would their responses be all that different? It does make the article stronger and have more depth but to me it sounds like I'm being berated for something I can't even do yet. Just my opinion.

[Leon Mederos]

Spiderman is a good hero to pick as an example of "good-doer" but I think he does it for a different reason than why we train. As Animus pointed out, he was acting out of vengeance at first and then realized he had a responsibility. As traceurs, we should know from the start that because we are training our bodies to be stronger, we have the obligation to help others out when it's needed.

This could also apply to a whole number of things. Weightlifters are freaking strong - does that mean they should be ready to go out of their way and lift a car up to help a guy? In my opinion yes, they should use what was given to them to help others. A computer nerd can fix a whole host of problems for a number of people - does that mean he should go around and fix everyone's problems to make them all happy? In my opinion, yes he should!

The problem is that thinking like this is highly unrealistic. Take my computer nerd example. If I were to go around, the wandering computer whiz of the west, fixing computer to computer until they were all fixed, do you think I'd ever be done?! No! Problems continuously arise. Not only that but I'd die of starvation... can't feed yourself with no cash   So no, I dont go around fixing everyone's computers even thought I have the skill to do so. But what if while I'm following my course, my path, in life and I come across a person who could really use some computer help. Will I help him? Of course!!

I think this is something we must aim for as traceurs. None of us are training so we can go out and save people. It's not something we plan on doing or purposefully pursue unless that is your path - police, firemen, rescue squad, etc. But for the rest of us living different lives and traveling different paths, I think that we are not obligated to dedicate our lives to running around helping people, instead we are called to our own paths and if the opportunity arises where our skills as a traceur can potentially help someone, do it.

My thoughts are always jumpy so let me sum up what I mean real quick: We are not superheroes. We all have different paths. If on our path we come across someone that can benefit from our training, help them. Don't abandon your path looking for people to help... if you were meant to go find people to help then you would know... because it's your path  

A little complicated, but we all have our purposes!

[Casey Kandel]

Everyone makes a good point in their own way. It truely all depends on how you see the definition of Parkour in the first place. Do you see it as a way to chase people / get away while being chased (no really a point A to point B type of thing) or as a way to quickly and efficiently get to where you're going (point A to point B).

It truely depends on the situation. Just because we CAN do something doesnt always be we SHOULD do something. How do we really know the situation unless its happening to us.

It seems like you WANT something bad to happen to someone so you can use Parkour to stop it.

[Ozzi]

the only career for parkour is basically in the video industry in which case you are using your abilities

 There is a big difference between sport and career. 

  So the only way i think my Parkour abilities could better others would be either teaching someone parkour

 There is no other situation that i could think of where your parkour abilities could help you.

  Another problem with your argument is that in your situation the three people had it as their career, they studied it and even though we do study parkour, it isnt a career and shouldnt be taken that way at all.  Its a sport.

 A baseball player doesn't benefit others with his skill to hit a baseball very far or being able to throw a ball very far.

You are missing several point of the article friend, allow me clear that up for you.

To the highlight above.

You say parkour is not a career but a sport, yet you say the only career is in the entertainment biz, so which is it, a career or a sport.
I believe a career can also be seen as a life style, and that is what parkour is, not a sport. At least not yet.
So, lets say parkour is in fact a sport. The the baseball player's career is his sport, his lifestyle. To which he could be helpful to others because of his speed.  Say a lady gets mugged, I am pretty sure the baseball player (being in the right place at the right time) would have no problem outrunning an average person. There is the opportunity to be helpful to other by using an ability.
Say a kids ball fall on the other side of a tall wall while palying with his friends, as a traceur we would have no problem helping the kid doing what we do best.

Adam is going a little over board with his article but presents good point, he doesnt mean go out there and find someone in troble. But be there if someone can use your help. We are all in pretty good shape compare to most people. You can easily just help a old lady carrying her groceries to her car because we are just more active and more capable of doing so. Are we saving a life in that case? no, are we putting a smile in someones face, yes. We then, achieve something. In my opinion you need to understand a little bit more what parkour is about.

But in my opinion, if you have the ability, for WHATEVER reason, you have the OBLIGATION (not the responsibility) to help whenever possible.  Parkour is not just about the ability to move, but the capacities of movement.  We train in a LOT of different varieties that can be useful to others.  Leave No Trace was developed for just that reason... not to only clean what is immediately accessible and viewable, but to reach those places that get ungodly filthy and are unnaccessible.. and this is a very simple thing that isn't one of thsoe dire "life or death" situations.  If you can help someone carry something, then do it.  We've trained for much worse and much more.. but to think of these great, catastrophic emergencies is looking at the world through a lens.. and we're better than that, really.  Why do we have to keep looking at these bigger examples when the smaller ones are so much more frequent and so much of the same?

Have I ever saved a life because of my training?  No.  Have I prevented someone from getting hurt?  Yes.  Have I been able to make someone's day easier?  HELL yes.

Sit down and ask yourself why you train..  Is it just for yourself, or is it for others, too?  Because the intention was, at least, to help yourself and your family.  The result, though.. is an international community of philanthropists.  And those who turn away from that responsibility lose a little bit of my respect, accordingly, only because I feel this is our duty.

Great point and I am with your about 99% of all. I just cant agree with the obligation vs responsibility. I see where you are coming from and think it is not bad to think that way, it is just a personal opinion that has nothing to do with kindness of thinking that way. Good for you for feeling the way you feel though. Seriously. I wish I could be that given to others. The past can leave scars, some of us can fully heal.

My thoughts are always jumpy so let me sum up what I mean real quick: We are not superheroes. We all have different paths. If on our path we come across someone that can benefit from our training, help them. Don't abandon your path looking for people to help... if you were meant to go find people to help then you would know... because it's your path 

A little complicated, but we all have our purposes!

Nicely put, never expected less of you Leon.

to sum it all up, just be there if someone needs you, weather it is to do what we do best (climb, jump, run, hop etc) or listen to someone who might need a friendly ear. You could save a life by just listening to a complete stranger.

[Adam McC]

Cellar: You are taking my example a bit too literally. I am not saying we need to save lives every day. You can make a difference in a thousand ways. It's not about being in the right place at the right time to save a life or do something major. At every moment in your life is a chance to do something a little more. It's like your Parkour training. You don't wait for the perfect spot, you use what you can around you.

Shea: If you're offended then frankly you need to tune down your ego. I am not attacking you with this article. If you feel you have done everything you can in life, that's fine. I'm presenting a challenge to everyone here, I am not telling them what bad people they are.

Sam: As Ozzi said, I don't think you understand the deepness of Parkour. Of course I manipulated the story. I did so to illustrate a new perspective. It's an extreme case, of course. But Parkour is more than a career, and more than a sport, and if you see it only as a career, then you should just ignore this article. As Ozzi said, it is a lifestyle.

Animus: No, you're wrong. (ha-ha! I totally got this one) Parker was given these powers, but, and especially in the second one, he was tempted to not use these powers. Instead to live a regular, comfortable life as a student and a young man. But his Uncle's words influenced him to take responsibility and use his powers for good. He CHOSE to use his powers, even though he thought they cost him his love and is life. You, my friend, did not watch Spiderman again, like I suggested. You're right, batman is also a good example.

I think obligation and responsibility are pretty much the same thing. If you have the responsibility to clean your room, that is an obligation to clean your room. Same thing.
 I completely agree with you, otherwise.

Toco: I'm not trying to berate you, my friend.

Leon: I never said to step outside of our path and help people. I'm saying we have the responsibility to not neglect those who are in our path, and need our help.

Casey: What seems to be, to you, is wrong. Do I sound like I want bad things to happen? Nope. I accept that they do. And I intend to do my best to help those I can.

Lemme make this clear to people. I am not insisting we go out of our way, and spend our lives looking for people to help. We are individuals. We have our own paths to take. I simply ask that you return to the world what the world has given you. It's a simple concept of balance. You will pay for the things you receive in this world one way or another. That's how nature works. Might as well do it willingly and for a good reason.
 The article is a stretch, it's purpose is to illustrate in vivid and unrealistic colors a different perspective on what we do. Please do not take these things so literally.

[Leon Mederos]

Lemme make this clear to people. I am not insisting we go out of our way, and spend our lives looking for people to help. We are individuals. We have our own paths to take. I simply ask that you return to the world what the world has given you. It's a simple concept of balance. You will pay for the things you receive in this world one way or another. That's how nature works. Might as well do it willingly and for a good reason.
 The article is a stretch, it's purpose is to illustrate in vivid and unrealistic colors a different perspective on what we do. Please do not take these things so literally.

I was just elaborating on your points, your article had good points 

[Andy Animus Tran]

Adam... why are you referencing the movies when the origins of the character is in the comic books?  Why should I watch the movies again when I know the comic canon?  :p

Ozzi...  The scars never fully heal.  They just become a blistering reminder that you need to be better than your past.  I fully believe that a saviour can rise from a demon.  But I won't delve into it any further.

Leon...  Agreed.  I didn't mean to suggest that obligation to help involved seeking it out, either.  While I do admit that I have considered the vigilante path, especially given a wealth of opportunities to bring down organized crime, I'm pretty sure that I'd be pretty dead if I tried.  The obligation exists as you are aware of situations.  A particularly haunting memory I have was when I was fourteen, at LAX airport, on a shuttle...  Everyone had gone on and loaded their luggage, and a dad and daughter were waiting for the next one.  I was sitting by the rear door, watching the daughter walk up to the door.  Her father called out to her, saying that they were going to wait.  But she ends up tripping into the bus, her legs hanging out.  That same moment, the driver, who could not see any of this, closed the doors.  We all know those doors.  They can be held open relatively easily by hand.  I was the only one close enough to the doors... and I could have taken a quick jump and held the doors open.  Instead, I sat there, frozen, and watched the doors close on the little girl's legs, and she let out a cry.

Only then did I snap out of it, get up, and force the doors open (much harder to force them open than to keep them from closing).  My family wanted to move on, so I couldn't stay and check with the girl, but I knew one leg was fine, and the other was already pretty badly bruised.  No broken bones, but she was in terrible shock and couldn't walk.  As I left that scene, I realized that I can never become that kind of person.. too scared or too self-involved to help another person when I'm able to.  That didn't require any strength at all.. it just asked me to for once stop being a voyeur of life and existence and actually engage in it.

[Sam Zytka]

i understand that it is a lifestyle i was trying to make that point throughout my whole post that it isnt a career and i was saying that people treat it to much like a career.  Yes, if a little kids ball went over the fence i would climb and get it(i actually just did that yesterday ) I understand that it is a lifestyle as i mentioned it has helped me in many other aspects of life and that  but many people act as if its the only lifestyle you can have and the main point in my post was that even though it may be a lifestyle and many train night and day to become better but in severe situations we cannot really use our abilities to benefit others.  at least i dont think so if you could provide a situation and it isnt bizarre then i commend you.  And thats what my point was that obviously since it was your article you could manipulate the situation to support your point more but it was just completely unreal

[Shae Perkins]

"Shea: If you're offended then frankly you need to tune down your ego. I am not attacking you with this article. If you feel you have done everything you can in life, that's fine. I'm presenting a challenge to everyone here, I am not telling them what bad people they are."

Yeah, sorry, my bad man. I was a little pissy last night for something unrelated, but I shouldn't bring my emotions here . Basically what I should have said is: I understand completely what your trying to say, and I just wanted to point out that I have confidence in most of the Parkour community to help whenever they could, I don't think you should worry to much.

[Adam McC]

but in severe situations we cannot really use our abilities to benefit others.  at least i dont think so if you could provide a situation and it isnt bizarre then i commend you. 

How about this, Sam. You know the Leave No Trace initiative? Parkour has trained us to think differently, be creative in the way we live and the things we do. It's the parkour mindset that gave traceurs the idea for the Leave No Trace system. And I'd call that beneficial to others, and it's using our abilities.

As for the obvious examples in every day life, just the other day I was walking along a sidewalk saw a woman trying to go out the exit door with three big paper bags in her hands, so I quickly vaulted over two handicap rails to open the door for her. Pretty small thing, but it meant a lot to her. You don't necessarily have to use your parkour techniques, Parkour gives you many more skills than just vaulting, my friend. I know I've learned to communicate better because of my experiences with security. I can use those communication skills to help people very easily. You gotta open up your mind a bit more, it's crazy to say "we can't really use our abilities to help others". If that's true, you're practicing a pretty useless art, if it can't help people. Is that what you want? See where I'm going with this?

Animus: Dammit man, you got me. I'm not a comic freak, I'm sorry, you probably know more than I do. I'm just going with the Spidey movies which everyone in the world has seen.

Oh of course, Shae. The parkour community is amazing. Articles are not the ten commandments , they are just reminders, meant to be that little voice in your head that pops up some day and you remember something from it that will help you that day.

[Sam Zytka]

yea but your main argument uses a severe situation and you cant use such a severe example but in your point you actually mean something minor as helping a lady with a door which would be a great help to her. it seems as if you think that i think your article is shit, which i dont it was very well written and i enjoyed, i just dont particularly agree with it.  And with the leave no trace initiative isnt that just cleaning up your training areas that are messy because of you?? I havent really looked into it at all is this true or is it just cleaning up communities in general

[Adam McC]

That's what stories do, my friend. They are exaggerations to illustrate a point. I was using an extreme example to show what it's like for someone not to use the skills they have gained for the good of other people, and how frustrating that is for the other people.

Yes, that's what it is, it's cleaning up, but it's not cleaning up what you did, it's cleaning up what everyone did, traceur or not. I don't think you're getting my point, just forget about it.

[Leon Mederos]

The easy point is that you should help others with your parkour skill when the time arises. Done, no story needed, hope it works 

[Andy Animus Tran]

yea but your main argument uses a severe situation and you cant use such a severe example but in your point you actually mean something minor as helping a lady with a door which would be a great help to her. it seems as if you think that i think your article is shit, which i dont it was very well written and i enjoyed, i just dont particularly agree with it.  And with the leave no trace initiative isnt that just cleaning up your training areas that are messy because of you?? I havent really looked into it at all is this true or is it just cleaning up communities in general

I, for one, think his article was written by.. a 16-18 year old.  Maybe I've been in the business too long.  ..sigh..  Great conception, poor execution.. which caused all this crazy hoopla.

And Adam, no worries.  I'm not SERIOUSLY taking offense to the reference.. I just think that we get compared to Spidey too often when it's very clear that we have more in common with Batman, who trained his ASS off to get to where he is now (and yes, I will always refer to comic characters as if they are real and presently alive).

[Adam McC]

Ah, but it can go my way too, with Batman! Batman was born into a rich life, which gives him, from birth, the money and resources to develop the tools of his trade. Therefore certain elements to his character were also given to him and not fully earned. So there.

You're right. I'm a kid, with limited writing skills, and limited experience. I suppose I just wish more people would take what good is in it, instead of focusing their energies on everything that isn't perfect in it. But I can only do my best.