1st Credo Interview: Cody Allison

For my first credo interview, I chose to interview Cody Allison, a person that I met through Parkour about a year ago. We had to reschedule several times, but we finally were able to meet one Sunday morning at his house in North Seattle. Cody is a 30 year-old man who grew up in California, and has lived in various cities around the country, including New Orleans and Denver. After high school, he joined the Army and served for 2 years, he attributes the Army for giving him many of his core values and beliefs.

Cody considers his life to have started when he joined the Army, before that he was simply in school, but had no sense of purpose. During basic training, the Army strips away your identity and replaces it with what they want you to be. When the Army tried to do this to Cody, he realized that there was a part of him that was his identity, and he refused to let go of it, in spite of all the Army made him go through. Since then, he has often expressed himself through writing quotes and narratives inspired by his own experiences. He told a story about the first time he put pen to paper and wrote his first quote: He was in basic training, and bought candy from another unit. Candy is banned in the first several weeks of boot camp, so he and the rest of his unit who had bought the contraband hid it in their barracks. The drill sergeants, having seen this happen countless times before, found it and asked who had bought the candy. Cody and several others admitted to doing it, and because of that Cody lost the opportunity to be squad leader. Several days later, he wrote “The greatest torture a man can endure is that which he gives himself,” he was very disappointed with his actions, and vowed to do better from then on. Since then his ruling core value has been that of selfless service: he always operates with other's interests at heart.

Shortly after Cody left the military, he discovered another defining part of his beliefs: the Tao Te Ching. What he likes so much about the Tao is how simple it is; because the Tao is as simple as it is, it requires the interpreter to read with thought, and to reflect on what the words actually mean. Like me, he believes that words are limited in their meaning, and the intent behind them are far more important than the words themselves. One of Cody's favorite quotes is from Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” This runs to the core of Cody's personal beliefs: the belief of simply being, and letting the rest of the world perceive him how they wish. Cody believes that there is no excuse for passively wishing for what you want. On the surface, this would seem to conflict with the Tao, but they are reconciled by how the he doesn't interpret the Tao as being about passivity, but being truly ones self and letting others perceive how they will. This falls exactly in line with Gandhi's call for acting upon your beliefs.

Cody started training Parkour when he moved to Seattle, about a year ago. Since then, he has become a major force in the development of the Washington Parkour community. Cody contact juggles and spins poi in addition to Parkour, he describes them as different forms of dance. He feels so passionately about Parkour because he sees it giving traceurs the same benefits that he gained in the military. They gain discipline, self-motivation, and a sense of identity, of self-worth and awareness.

Cody believes in helping others above all else. He doesn't discriminate who he helps, everybody is family for him. His Good Samaritan nature is rooted in his service with the Army, where he learned to act for the good of the group, instead of his own personal gain. He told me that this is his ultimate value: selfless service. Whenever he is involved in something for the sole intent of his personal gain or enjoyment, it ends up not working out in the way he intended. Cody is proud of his life so far and especially how many people he has helped because of this belief.

While many of Cody's core values align with my own, none of them ring as true as his belief in selfless service. This falls almost exactly in line with my belief in loyalty to my friends. I have thought a lot of what I really mean when I say that loyalty is important to me, and considered what Cody had to say, and selfless service falls on the other side of me on that spectrum of self-interest from what I feel most of the world believes. I think that I apply my brand of 'selfless service' to my friends, those that I choose to associate with.

I look up to Cody as a role model, somebody I aspire to be like when I am older. We share the basic values of caring for our friends, discipline, movement, self-improvement, respect, and presence. To me this interview was like talking to myself a decade into the future, which combined with the awkwardness of having never interviewed somebody before to make this whole experience a very bizarre, and rewarding, one. The more I talk with him, the more I realize how similar we truly are.