Recently, my daughter and I have begun binge watching the show Cobra Kai. You may have seen or heard of this Karate Kid throwback series. It’s worth a watch for the 80’s references alone.

One of the mantras of the Cobra Kai is: “Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy.” Throughout the first few seasons, the premise or internal conflict the characters face is the concept of mercy. The antagonist preaches that mercy is a form of weakness that keeps you from winning, while the main character seeks to teach his students that without mercy there is no honor, and when faced with the choice, they should always choose honor.

Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm. I think about the concept of power and how often we hold this leverage over others without even knowing it. How often are we in a position where we hold an advantage over others and are faced with the unspoken choice to uplift someone or tear them down?

When we are on top looking down, it is easy to discard humanity and convince ourselves that the person we see in agony deserves what he or she has coming to them. We revel in the front-row seat to witness someone learning life’s lessons the hard way. Our fragile ego believes that another man’s consequence absolves us of our shortcomings. We think their weakness becomes our strength.

The truth is we have all found ourselves on the other end of wrath, looking up with diminished hope. It is in these times we crave the compassion, empathy, and encouragement that mercy can offer. We want someone to see us as a person, not as our mistakes. We want someone to seek understanding instead of making rash assumptions. We want someone to let us know that we are not alone in our failures. We simply want our humanity to be recognized, not from a position of judgment but from a place of acceptance.

There is no honor in finding your advantage by intentionally exposing another’s weakness. Great men and women gain their strength by their own deeds and values because how we love others says everything about the mercy we ourselves deserve.