“I’M AT LEAST GOING TO HAVE A BACKFLIP AT THE HOSPITAL”

The quote for today’s blogpost comes from Brian Alsruhe, who, if you don’t know, is one of the most positive driving forces in the world of physical training and an absolute badass.  A former martial arts instructor/counter terrorism operative turned strongman competitor, Brian is a living action figure that is overcoming 2 internal parasites, Lyme’s disease and a traumatic brain injury and doing so while still deadlifting 700lbs.  This particular quote comes from when he was learning how to backflip while being instructed by other internet sensation Jujimufu.  Brian had sustained an ankle injury in the process of learning the backflip, and by all appearances it was pretty gnarly.  It looked like the day was over and that Brian was going to have to leave having not accomplished his goal of hitting his first backflip.  But then, the following transpired (at 10:20 in the video)

For those of you unable to watch, I’ve transcribed the important parts.  Juji was narrating to his handcam, explaining what it was that happened to Brian and why Brian wouldn’t be able to hit his backflip that day, but in the midst of this explanation, he witnessed Brian attempting to figure out how he was going to land his backflip while bypassing his injury, which led Juji to inquire

“Brian are you really just going to do a backflip again?”

To which Brian replied

“If it’s hurt, it’s already hurt.  Right?  So, if I’m going to the hospital, I’m going to go to the hospital.  I’m at least going to have a backflip, at the hospital.”

This is met with one of the most pregnant pauses in all of recorded history as the rest of the group attempted to come to grips with the insanity before Brian continued

“If you’re already hurt, you might as well get it.  It’d be stupid not to.”

It's amazing how well this sums up the whole scene

If you watch the video, you can note Brian demonstrating a very rare and uncharacteristic frustration with those he is addressing.  Now, in truth, I imagine Brian was more frustrated with the experience of being injured, but a part of me thinks the frustration ALSO came from having to explain this in the first place.  And that’s because I TOTALLY get where Brian is coming from.  I am certain Brian and I share some sort of common ancestor, because we’ve been on the same wavelength for a LONG time, and it seems to breed equal parts insanity manifested in similar though diverging manners.   This exchange just sums up everything perfectly: If I’m going to the hospital, I’m going to go to the hospital-I’m at least going to have a backflip at the hospital.

First, let’s go surface level on this one: what Brian is expressing here is known in formal logic as a “sunk cost fallacy”.  It’s the argument that, if you’ve invested so much (time, money, effort, energy, etc) toward some sort of goal, you should do whatever it takes to achieve that goal: otherwise, that investment is wasted.  It’s a logical fallacy because it’s an illogical argument: just because you’ve invested in something doesn’t mean you have to achieve it.  HOWEVER, those of you who are regular readers of the blog know this: just because something is ILLOGICAL doesn’t mean it is WRONG: it just means it’s not logical.  Being logical doesn’t make something “right”, as right and wrong exist outside of logic.  Thanos was very logical when he ruled that exterminating half of the population would make the available resources last twice as long, but the rightness of said action was highly debatable.  In turn, one must understand that the critique offered in the video regarding Brian’s logic was unnecessary.

"Puny logic"

Why?  Because it doesn’t matter if what Brian said was illogical: it was still RIGHT.  It was right to the point of causing frustration in having to explain it, because it was painfully obvious.  “If you’re already hurt, you might as well get it.  It’d be stupid not to.”  Once again, we discuss the liberation of injury, and to a further extent, if hitting the bottom: you have nowhere to go but up.  What’s the concern in learning the backflip?  You might screw up and get injured.  Alright, cool, we just got injured, so NOW what is the concern?  Well…nothing.  The bad thing already happened.  So now we’re free to do the backflip.  We already “paid the price”: we may as well ride the ride now.  Because if we wanna talk about being stupid, getting injured for NO reason is really stupid.  At least if we get injured AND do the backflip, we got the backflip.  What’s the concern: getting MORE injured?  Folks, we’re already going to the hospital: at least we’ll have a backflip at the hospital.  

  

But the biggest part is that this mentality encompasses a metaphor that extends to such a greater point of life.  We’re all “going to the hospital”: we all have the same trajectory and end state, so how many of us are going to land a backflip on our way?  You’ve heard all this from me before, but it’s great to see it coming from those that are both crazier and stronger than I am.  Some folks are ONLY going to attempt the backflip if there is a guarantee of absolute and total safety, which is to say, they will never make the attempt.  What is their reward?  They got to sit at home that day and watch youtube videos of people learning how to backflip.  Some folks will only attempt the backflip up UNTIL the point that they get injured, and then they stop.  What is THEIR reward?  An injury, and no backflip.  And some folks show up to learn how to backflip: and they’re not going to stop until they get it.  Sure, they might get injured, but what is their reward?  They got the backflip.  And that’s so much more satisfying than being injury free and watching other people do it.