Why I think sparring makes you a better code reviewer as martial arts make you a better person in general

If you ever practiced any martial art this will be a familiar scenario: People get a bit too excited, get carried away and too eager to win or prove themselves in a pointless game or exercise... This is when the Devil takes his due - during exercise / sparring you get hurt, but more importantly you hurt others. Here I do emphasize hurting others as that is something I find more troubling then getting hurt myself.

Personally I have never been into team sports and have always enjoyed honing my own skills trough martial arts starting with AiKiDo (~6 years), transitioning trough Systema (~1 year) to Krav Maga (~3 years). Interesting enough this was maybe an escape from teamwork and cooperative games at first, but eventually really formed me into a much more flexible and easy going person. Or ... at least I have a firm belief it did. :)

All Agile methodologies will stress out communication as primary point of failure for any complex system. We could have a lengthy analysis on why this is the case, but we could also as easily agree that this is a simple fact... at least for the sake of argument. Humans inherently make systems (more) complex trough sheer interaction with them. Couple that with Hanlon's Razor (sometimes wrongly attributed to Napoleon): "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" things will, on a good day, typically go south as fast as TGV train. Bearing all that in mind where do martial arts come in play?

In communication typically we are limited by our perception and the "objective" reality gets distorted by prism of ones personality. As there is almost no possible prevention, mitigation is the only viable option. Always trying to be as mild and clear as possible when emitting and as conservative as possible when receiving is definitely a good governing heuristic, but that is also open to interpretation. Empathy is key. Practicing martial arts is a full contact experience, some bruising is an integral part of the routine. Taking part of it guarantees that you are willingly allowing for possibility of getting hurt.

There are few moments burned in my memory, namely that time when my nose cracked after a faster-then-expected punch, or another one I partially ruptured my right calf during a kick, or... honestly that is more or less it. And they are not as clear, as ones where my action lead to injury of another person either trough lack of care or lack of control. I still do however remember with uttermost clarity uppercutting a friend during sparring, nearly tearing a shoulder of another during ground wrestling session, accidental groin kicks... and those not kinds of things I enjoy looking back to. Adrenaline fueled aggression is a potent narcotic that will eat you inside out. And it will always leave a foul taste in your mouth as a bonus. However I do treasure such memories as they keep me in check and always make me count to ten (sometimes ten thousand if needed), be more vigilant when doing a routine exercise or stating an obvious fact. They make me keep to myself when unsure of possible consequence, staying rather on the safe side, sometimes allowing to get a kick or an unkind word thrown your way. Physical violence is easier to perceive and anyone causing harm to fellow (human) being will feel it. Communication analogies are self-evident.

There are no saints, only sinners looking for forgiveness, troubled by past deeds. Miyamoto Musashi did come to enlightenment only after bashing a few dozen skulls in duels. In theory people do learn from other people's mistakes. Likewise in theory there is no difference between theory and practice. I do strongly believe in self-correcting factor of each individual. Road to hell may be well paved with good intentions, but eventual realization is imminent. People might speculate on nature of good and evil, but we all know what is right and what is plain wrong.

Finally, as my dear friend and colleague recently told me in a "make-or-brake" scenario: Justice and Mercy are two opposed forces governing any civilized society - Justice is cruel and eager to punish, while mercy is impotent to take any fundamental stance. Justice without Mercy leads to terror and tyranny and Mercy without Justice will produce pure chaos. Tipping the scales on any side will easily lead to escalation snowballing.

Reflecting on what I just wrote and more importantly on my recent course of action I do have issues with Pride. To make things worse I did declare it a virtue and wear it as an shinny armor out in public display. Hurt ego will often add a self-proclaimed "righteous" label to any zeal. In the times when pen is in deed mightier than sword, allowing your sarcasm and irony to spill out in ether is equivalent of giving Lucifer carte blanche. There will be collateral damage and there is little you can do to fix that post factum.

Looks like I do still have quite some growing up ahead of me, “... but that is another story and shall be told another time.”

Kida!

Bogdan