Last week I did a favor for a new friend, 15-ish years younger than me, and he was somewhat confused and surprised that I didn't want any sort of monetary compensation. I answered that I had been on the beneficiary side of similar situations before, so this was my opportunity to pass a good deed. It brought to mind the saying that "All the best things in life are free", and I wasn't sure whether that is right or not.
I guess everybody has their own, personal gauge of evaluating things in life, particularly in terms of "bang for the buck". To keep things in the domain of martial arts and training related things, I have received some free instruction over the years, and paid rather heftily for some other. I have also conducted both free and paid classes. On the receiving side, I can honestly say that some of those free sessions were much better than some of those paid ones, and yet, I do not regret paying for those that I did. All those experiences were instrumental in building my view of what is a large and important segment of my life, mostly in good ways, so I am grateful for having gone through them. However, I do not necessarily hold the instruction or lessons that came detached from monetary compensation any less valuable that the costly ones. After all, I feel I have paid for the former with my sincere effort, sweat, bruises and bumps, even blood occasionally. Some of the people who offered them are my friends to his day...as are some of those whom I paid to learn from. As the matter of fact, this very blog started as my attempt to pay dues and express gratitude for everything good that has happened to me over the past tree decades (and some) in and around martial arts.
On the other hand, it is definitely true that there are persons out there who have hard time appreciating things they do not have to pay for. That does not deter me from still teaching for free when it feels right. Have I made wrong assessments in this regard sometimes? Yes! But there have been good calls, too, and those are cherished moments.
Nowadays it might be more difficult, especially for younger practitioners, to have the appreciation for some things, with all the freely available stuff on the internet, bot excellent and awful. The way I see it, it just makes me all the more happy when presented with the chance to make difference and set a positive example in someone else's life experiences...even if it turns out to be mistake.
I guess everybody has their own, personal gauge of evaluating things in life, particularly in terms of "bang for the buck". To keep things in the domain of martial arts and training related things, I have received some free instruction over the years, and paid rather heftily for some other. I have also conducted both free and paid classes. On the receiving side, I can honestly say that some of those free sessions were much better than some of those paid ones, and yet, I do not regret paying for those that I did. All those experiences were instrumental in building my view of what is a large and important segment of my life, mostly in good ways, so I am grateful for having gone through them. However, I do not necessarily hold the instruction or lessons that came detached from monetary compensation any less valuable that the costly ones. After all, I feel I have paid for the former with my sincere effort, sweat, bruises and bumps, even blood occasionally. Some of the people who offered them are my friends to his day...as are some of those whom I paid to learn from. As the matter of fact, this very blog started as my attempt to pay dues and express gratitude for everything good that has happened to me over the past tree decades (and some) in and around martial arts.
On the other hand, it is definitely true that there are persons out there who have hard time appreciating things they do not have to pay for. That does not deter me from still teaching for free when it feels right. Have I made wrong assessments in this regard sometimes? Yes! But there have been good calls, too, and those are cherished moments.
Nowadays it might be more difficult, especially for younger practitioners, to have the appreciation for some things, with all the freely available stuff on the internet, bot excellent and awful. The way I see it, it just makes me all the more happy when presented with the chance to make difference and set a positive example in someone else's life experiences...even if it turns out to be mistake.
