What does the phrase "blood sport" mean here?
Giving up literal blood sports seems so obvious as to not be worth mentioning, but metaphorical ones so vague that there's probably a better way to phrase it.
> Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don’t risk it frivolously.
I have a rule that mixes the blood sport and the one I quoted above. There are a class of sports/hobbies that, as you progress and improve, you find yourself in more objectively dangerous situations in order to continue to progress.
Some sports are obvious, like boxing and skydiving. But even seemingly innocent activities have this property, like long-boarding and mountain biking. Pretty much anything that goes down hills :(
I'll pick those up hobbies again after this phase of life when rule 12 dominates.
Here is an example. I dated a guy, divorced two daughters 4 & 6 and he wanted to get a motorcycle. As if anything could be comparably important to family or children for that matter because it can't, he was the CEO and founder of a tech startups (so to this point in the companies development, from my limited perspective though he shared a great deal with me about the business, we not one in which there would be a stable replacement for him and thus the company and 400 people's and their families that relied on this company for jobs) I was only dating him for four months but I told him he was being genuinely selfish for entertaining the idea of buying a motorcycle and his ego was getting the way of his priorities.
I never tried to control him or any part of his life, but I made it clear that I would not date him if he got a Ducati with two young daughters and I deemed it a selfish life decision. Needless to say, this ego bled into other areas of his life and our relationship that made it intolerable to date him.
I would imagine that this tenant relies somewhat on being in a place of responsibility where you have made it so that others people's well being relies on you somehow, and your lack of existence/leadership/consequences of your bad decisions affect other people than just yourself.
Make it easy on yourself and don't overthink it - simply refrain from (as found on the internets):
- Badger-baiting
- Bear Baiting
- Bull Fighting
- Cock Fighting
- Cock Throwing - a rooster is tied to a post and people took turns throwing sticks at it until the rooster died.
- Dog Fighting
- Goose Pulling - a goose was hung by its legs while a man on a horseback would attempt to grab it by the neck to try and pull its head off
- Bear Baiting was another cruel blood sport
- Fox Tossing - with a person on each end of a sling tossed the fox upwards, the team with the highest throw would win.
- Rat-baiting
- Venatio - played out in Roman amphitheaters involving the hunting and killing of wild animals.
In the business world, I think this comes down to scamming or defrauding people