Facing Danger

Master Tom recently posted this great quote on Facebook.

One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never! - Winston Churchill

It reminded me of something that happened to a friend of mine in college.

This particular friend was about 5 feet and 6 or 7 inches tall, and at the time probably weighed about 110 to 120 pounds. He was a very happy-go-lucky guy and never did anyone any harm. In fact at the time of this event he professed himself to be a pacifist.

One night, while he was walking on campus some guys jumped out of a truck, made accusations about his preferred company, and proceeded to beat him up while he shouted, "Stop! I'm a pacifist! I'm a pacifist!"

He told me that he realized that perhaps there was room within pacifism for self defense.

A few weeks later while walking across campus, (apparently he was perceived as an easy target for this sort of activity), a truck pulled up near him and some guys jumped out of the truck, making accusations about his preferred company. This time my friend grabbed a broken bottle he saw next to the curb and turned to face them with determination in his eyes. He told me later that he figured he was going to get beaten up again, but this time he was going to make them think twice about going after anyone else. The guys took a look at him and jumped back in the truck.

There are never any guarantees, but part of self defense is making yourself less of a target. This can be accomplished in lots of different ways, don't walk alone at night, walk with awareness of your surroundings, walk with confidence. If you take are successful with self defense ahead of time, you may never find yourself in a face to face self defense situation.

www.franklinkungfu.com

What "Self Defense" Means to Me.

I recently asked via Facebook what "self defense" means, and got back a great variety of answers.

Click here for the thread.

Now, for what self defense means to me.

I believe that self defense happens in stages or steps.

1. Awareness/assessment of possible threats in general.
2. Awareness of the likelihood of facing a threat in a specific situation.
3. Using the knowledge gained in the previous steps to reduce the chance of encountering a threat, and to increase your ability to face the threat if needed.
4. If, despite previous efforts, a threat arises, fight or flight (or some combination of both) will be necessary.
5. Follow up. Knowing how to respond after the threat has been avoided or eliminated.

Now for a couple of hypothetical real world examples of the five steps I've listed.

1. Each year during busy shopping days of the Holiday season parking lot robberies rise and we see all the reports on the news of how to keep yourself from being a victim.
2. Suppose on the local news it is revealed that on three different occasions in one week someone was violently robbed in the parking lot of a particular store at a particular time of day.
3. Sally decides to avoid that store at that part of the day, buys herself some pepper spray to carry in her purse, and practices how to carry and use her new personal protection device.
4. Unfortunately, Sally is approached in the parking lot where she was shopping. She had practiced staying aware and saw the person coming. She raises the pepper spray she was holding in her hands and starts backing away towards the door of the store and escapes unharmed.
5. After she is safe, she calls 911 and reports the event.

Hypothetical situation number two.

1. John looks up the top causes of death in the USA and finds this. Seeing that number one on the list is heart disease with 631,636 deaths he decides to learn more. (He also notices that assault is not even on the list.)
2. John suddenly realizes that all of his grandparents died of heart disease and decides to go to the doctor and see what his health situation is like. It turns out that his diet which is high in saturated fat and his family history put him at high risk for heart attack.
3. John changes his diet and starts an exercise program to try to decrease his chances of heart attack.
4. Despite his lifestyle changes John's blood pressure remains high, so he goes to the doctor to get a prescription to help lower it.
5. John makes regular trips to the doctor to assess his condition and educates his children about what he has experienced.

So, as you can see, I believe that self defense encompasses more than what to do if someone grabs your purse, arm, or neck, but how to prevent that from happening in the first place. I also believe that self defense involves protecting your heart, lungs, and brain from disease.

Are we, as martial artists focused on the assault side of self defense? Of course we are, and we should be. We should, however, also be focusing on the other aspects of self defense, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

One of the great things about martial arts is that, if approached properly it can address all these issues. As for the top causes of death, fitness acheived in martial arts classes can reduce the chance of heart disease, some cancers, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and diabetes which are all in the top ten causes of death in the USA.

Types of Aggression

I was recently reading some articles dealing with two types of aggression/attackers. The author divided the two categories of attackers into the "Alpha Male" and the "Predator".

I encourage anyone studying or interested in martial arts to read the article, and read the discussion posted below it.

Giving Thanks

In the past few years, there have been sacrifices my family has had to make to try to get East West Kung Fu off the ground. Operating in a small town, and opening up at the beginning of a recession has meant we had to cut back on non-essentials, work part time jobs, and struggle financially.

I thought that considering the recent holiday I would take a little time to give thanks for all the help we have received from people who apparently believe very strongly in what we do.

In the past few years, people have bought my family countless dinners, I was given a brand new bicycle, and so was my stepdaughter, my car repairs were paid for, people donated housekeeping supplies for the kung fu school, I was given transformers toys, I was given dvd's, people have given me loans to keep the kwoon in business, people have given me money outright to keep the kwoon in business, and the list goes on and on.

It is easy to forget how good we have it sometimes. It is easy to get distracted by all the struggle. So I wanted to take a moment to be greatful to all who have helped us through the struggle.

I hope that you will take a moment to do the same.