When I was a kid, I dream about being a soldier, a super hero and idolizes Bruce Lee and James Bond. At that time, the concept of helping others was to dive in to fight off the bad guys. In primary school, I did help a smaller built classmate fight off a bigger bully. I still fell short because I never learn how to fly or be bullet proof. However, those dreams were indeed one of the drivers for me to learn martial arts.
Self defense is NOT a sport, neither is it a means to health / fitness – those come as a byproduct from the physical activities and conditioning.
The type of threats changes because of life style changes. Kids’ biggest hazards are accidents during play and sometimes bullies. As teenagers, poor self image is the biggest hazard. As adults, going home late at night, managing politics and stress in the workplace, managing relationships are some of the biggest challenges. As seniors, “falls” remains one of the biggest everyday hazard. So, self defense in a traditional sense of just using punching and kicking addresses only a very small fraction of what is real and imminent everyday and therefore may not be “practical” to all.
Some facts related to self defense are:
- You have to work with what you got at that moment and the situation, environment or opponent(s) are never exactly the same.
- “Go/no go” decision is hard and causes lost time/opportunities or non-committed defense. Decide where your personal lines are drawn way ahead of a situation. You cannot fight every battle, pick the “worthwhile” ones.
- Don’t make yourself a target. You have the right to show off your jewelry, monies and whatever, it is a free country. However, you know there are bad people out there trying to pick “worthwhile” targets.
- Visibility, time, numbers, etc are resources that you want to manage effectively. Why do most crimes happen in quiet areas? Why should you try your best not to leave the primary scene? How can you attract attention of others so they can help? Why should you always pair up?
- Whatever threats you make, make sure you can follow up and deliver. Empty threats or threats that are repeated too many times will make yourself a joke and often interpreted as challenges.
- Non-committed defense is deadly. If you have a weapon that you don’t know how to use or not emotionally ready to use, don’t show it!
- Prevention is a much better choice than actual combat (and consequences after that). Causing permanent damage is traumatic even for professionals – soldiers, police. However, draw you line and then you will have no regrets even though it may be painful.
Exercise
I hope the article help broaden your view of self defense and what you need to do.
I want you to think of self defense from a resource angle and see how you can apply it to protecting yourself and others.