Parents just don’t understand..
You know parents are the same no matter time nor place
They don’t understand that us kids are gonna make some mistakes
So to you, all the kids all across the land
There’s no need to argue, parents just don’t understand— The Fresh Prince
Now I ain’t that old that the lyrics to this iconic song links directly to my age. Just felt it fit the subject, something I came across recently by one of our guests Denester, CP, Parkour God, that made me want to write about this. I don’t want to specify parents as the problem, but rather the previous generation as well as the lessons they have brought onto society today. Singapore as a whole, is as beautiful of a country as it gets. It ain’t my style, but it’s a utopia for a whole other group of people. However we have some serious serious serious fucking social cultural problems that are being continuously buried rather than addressed and this is one of them.
I must emphasize, although we talked about Parkour on the podcast, my point when writing this is not really about Parkour but rather how we as a whole do things in Singapore. Do you really want Singapore to be a country where your children are afraid to do what they really love? To be who they are?
Our recent guest who goes by the Instagram handle Deenester, came across an article about his dive role fail. Being a fucking OG in the sport, having already spent 14 years doing this and he’s not even 30. In these Insta-story posts, he talked about how Singaporeans have reacted to the information in those posts on different media sources.
The sport of Parkour has honestly been seen as a taboo sport due to it’s association with high-risk moves and occasional deaths. As with every unique sport out there, there are no rewards without risk.
As with most things that people do not understand. People who are doing these unorthodox things tend to face a lot of hate because to haters out there, what they don’t understand means that those doing those things are wrong, evil or stupid.
Truth is ignorance is bliss to the hateful. You choose not to self-educate because you are too lazy. It is perfectly fine not to care about Parkour as a sport, but it’s not okay to be so uneducated that you take the stance of pure hate. Like most things, your truth ain’t my truth and vice versa. But with the abundance of information out there, it is no excuse to hate without any form of self-education beforehand.
“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” ― Epictetus
In many great sports or activities, the people behind them come from a position of hunger. This hunger to achieve something so incredible the average human being would never reach. That’s why it’s so easy and addictive to latch onto the mob and attack when you see failure. Hell you attack even when you see success.
Reaching these levels of greatness require time. Commitment. Conviction. Discipline. An Iron Will. On top of that, it requires one to grow, to teach but more importantly to give. It requires a selfless desire to improve and do better.
It requires you rejecting that date on a Friday night because you got a break-breakthrough.
It requires you to say no to that all-expenses-paid family dinner just to put in an extra hour teaching or helping people get better.
It requires you to put in those extra hours instead of watching those hyper-addictive new shows on Netflix or Disney + (Amazon you need to up your game & HBO when the hell you coming to Singapore?).
It requires you to tear down everything you have learned, be vulnerable and re-educate yourself to have a better understanding of what life is. To come back day after day, after each failure, trying to do better.
“Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world. Mortal or immortal, few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds — justifications, confirmations, forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.”
― Anne Rice
These are things that are not suitable for the average person. Let alone one in a closed-minded society in Singapore. A society that tends to take an adamant stance about re-learning. We need to stop thinking that we are already there and put our mind in a constant state of re-education. We put so much value into book smarts, degrees and paper qualifications while spending just far too much time hating on people who have done otherwise. It certainly does not help when unfiltered, biased “journalism” is against you too.
Like I said before. You don’t have to like Parkour. Hell you don’t have to like anything actually. You can be a slob 24/7 for all I care. But if you actively choose to hate, spread hate & teach hate, then you will find very few people will be there for you when it really matters because hate is toxic.
I am so fucking impressed each time I, as a 31 year old, encounter somebody who is an addict to their passion like CP is. It is not only enriching but continuously makes me want to do better and do more in my life. Whenever I come across somebody looking to create a form of art, content, business that is hyper focused on something other than their own personal financial gain. How. Fucking. Refreshing.
To you all the kids all across the land
Take it from me
These people will never understand
So never let that fire diminish
Or let those words sway you
Run headfirst on your path
& they’ll never forget you
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Ernie
