You Don't Know Me

When an idiot is judged on his or her speech, actions, or appearance, the classic retort is "You don't know me!" Well, just how else is someone supposed to know you except by what you say, what you do, and the way you dress? And, if you have been judged as someone people do not want to know by your speech, actions, or appearance, why would anyone want to know you?

No one can really "know" another person, especially when the person does not really even know him or herself. Watch the news, watch your neighborhood. People who do bad things say it was "not like them," that they do not usually do that sort of thing. Relatives of people who do bad things say that it was "out of character" that the bad doers are usually fine, upstanding citizens.

You will be judged by your speech, appearance, behavior, and actions. If you do not like the judgments people are making about you, then change your speech, appearance, behavior, and actions. If you are not willing to change, then stop making excuses by blaming others by saying "You don't know me!"

Dumb Questions

How may time have you heard "There is no such thing as a dumb question." There are many dumb questions. A dumb question is one which you already know the answer. You are just asking the question to see if the instructor knows the answer. A dumb question is one you would have known the answer to if you were paying attention in the first place. Listen to reporters at news conferences, they ask dumb questions all the time. They don't ask questions to seek an answer, but to foster their own agenda or to try to make the person say something wrong.

Asking for an Opinion

Don't ask for someone's opinion on something if you are going to argue with the opinion you receive. If you ask for my opinion on something , don't argue with me about the opinion. Accept it and then either use it or reject it. However, if I offer my unsolicited opinion, then you may argue with me about it. If you ask about whether you should do something and the answer does not agree with what you want to do, don't try to convince me you are right. That just means you were not seeking my opinion, but merely seeking validation of your own opinion. If you can't deal with the answer you may receive, then don't ask the question.

Punishing the Good

If you let people get away with doing things wrong, then you are punishing the people who are doing things right. If takes effort and sometimes sacrifice to do things right. It you let wrong doers escape punishment, then you are rewarding them for failure, which is an indirect punishment of those who do right. I'm not talking about crimes here, just the small everyday injustices that occur. For example, its raining at the shopping center. Most people do what is right and park in the parking lot and walk in the rain to the stores. However, some park in the loading zones in front of stores so they will not have to walk in the rain, which causes people who are doing things right have to walk around them. If store owners permit this, they are condoning the practice, which encourages the violators to do it again, and they are punishing the people who are doing what is right. When people are afraid to correct others for fear of confrontation, they are condoning improper behavior and punishing good behavior.

Excuse Me!

Some people think "Excuse me" gives them the right to interfere with your life. You are supposed to stop what you are doing and give your complete attention to them. Don't use "Excuse me!" as an order and continue, instead, use "Excuse me?" as a question and wait for an answer. Don't excuse the "Excuse me!" people who are always butting in, make them wait their turn in life.

My Martial Art is Best!!

You hear martial artists say, “My martial art is the best!” and others condemn them for saying it. What would you expect a martial artist to say, “That other martial art is better than mine. I am just training in my lesser martial art because I am stupid!”

Ethics

I just watched a video on the Internet of a “master” teaching a clinic on intricacies of knife fighting to a group of young children; so much for ethics and intelligence in the martial arts.