The standard you walk past is the standard you accept

It would appear that a reminder is needed about who Jan de Jong was and what he stood for.

In 1991, the AJJA executive again approached Jan de Jong to develop a Dan ... grading system for AJJA members. The aim of the AJJA Dan grading system is to:

• enable progression to higher grades for those whose grading system do not provide such opportunities;
• enable continues learning for those who have reached the end of their own grading system;
• give credibility to higher grades; and/or
• standardise the qualifications of ju jitsu instructors within the AJJA.

Peter Clarke, a senior instructor with Jan de Jong, developed a system based on Jan de Jong's ju jitsu grading system but which does not seek to impose this system of ju jitsu onto other schools.

THAT is who Jan de Jong was. THAT is what his name should stand for. Unfortunately, there are those who are using his family name in total contradiction of who he was and what he stood for.

JDJ was vehemently opposed to black belts being dolled out like smarties (or M&Ms for the rest of the world). That was his platform when accepting the post of president of the AJJA. And yet today ... and all with the de Jong family name endorsement. JDJ would be turning in his grave, and those are the words of senior students and instructors of the original Jan de Jong Self Defence School. I of course endorse those sentiments.

JDJ was right. These actions devalue the worth of a black belt in the JDJ tradition. A JDJ black belt means something. What does it mean when it's awarded with his family name's endorsement but not in the truest traditions of JDJ.

This is the tip of the iceberg in a day that is the saddest in the JDJ tradition. Moral courage is most definitely lacking in some of the schools that link themselves with the JDJ tradition. I am ashamed and embarrassed how a member of the JDJ tradition abused a longtime friend of JDJ in public at the national AJJA conference with no defence whatsoever by JDJ tradition members or the AJJA. How a young female visitor was made to feel threatened and was in tears and nobody from the JDJ tradition or the AJJA stood up and said 'no.' I take this personally and feel ashamed and embarrassed for myself, JDJ, and all those that follow in the truest tradition of the man.

'The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.' I did not walk past. This is a standard that I do not, and I know JDJ would not, accept. I know that moral courage means standing alone. I stand proudly alone in standing up against this in the finest tradition of JDJ and say, 'no', 'this is not acceptable.'

PS: In an example of how far we have fallen, I have been threatened with violence by no less than two members of the JDJ tradition for doing so in relation to these matters.