When I look at you, all I see is muscle, bone, and brain. I don’t see gender, I don’t see race, I don’t see your morals, vices, or sins. You have strengths to maximize and weaknesses to minimize.

If you practice jiu-jitsu, you are awesome to me. If you want to learn from me, I’ll teach you. If you want to instruct me, I’ll listen. If you are striving to make yourself better, I will help you. If you want to contribute to my jiu-jitsu, I welcome it.

Jiu-jitsu is nothing without someone to train with. I need you, and you need me. I may not agree with who you are outside of the academy. You may think the views I have of life are disconnected from reality. When we are on the mat, only jiu-jitsu matters, and my training partner is my favorite person in the world.

If you train with respect, with humility, and with enthusiasm, we will get along fine. We will have problems only if you use jiu-jitsu for the wrong purposes or with bad intent. Good jiu-jitsu builds a person up, even as it breaks them down. Good jiu-jitsu is honest, objective, and fair. Work within that framework, and I will be good for your jiu-jitsu, just as you will be for mine.

If we can agree on all that, how can I not like you training next to me? You are pretty awesome.