This is an article written by Dave Degrouchie. I thought you might enjoy this one one.
Ass Kicking vs Ass Kicking Avoidance
By:
Kyoshi Dave DeGrouchie, Rokudan
Keiko-Ryu Bujutsu
SELF DEFENSE: The ability to defend oneself from harm.
Hmm….short sentence, but so broad and lengthy a meaning. What does that definition actually mean? How good of a job do we as self defense instructors do at interpreting it, and properly delivering the concept to students who are looking at us to teach them how to defend themselves?
Physical techniques are countless. So many styles constantly trying to find the quickest way to break an arm, choke out an assailant, or use common objects in the environment as weapons. That’s all good, and further more, quite vital. But are we only teaching that? What about everything else that actually makes self defense effective, and a reality, and, a life practice? Does self defense only start when a punch is thrown, or when an attacker reveals his intentions to attack? Most upon pondering, would think not, but according to the main stream martial arts instruction, that is pretty much all that is covered.
Many instructors will speak as if they cover the whole package. But, how does their class session go down? Warm up, drills, self defense techniques, perhaps a lecture on vital points or pressure points, maybe a cool down, a bow, and off everyone goes. Nobody learned a thing about self defense in such a scenario. Too much was missing. It’s like trying to teach English, using only the letter “Z”. What about letters A thru Y? Can there be an alphabet, or language, with out the rest? No.
When you look at the way the world is run, a power nation does not stick to the most lethal bomb they have, as their entire relationship factor with the rest of the world. There are so many more steps before using such a device, that actually result in the device not having to be used at all. There is a method of relations, things get tense there are talks between various ambassadors, committees, inspectors, etc. then, perhaps sanctions against the other nation, followed by maybe a ground invasion of a small scale, etc, etc. No bomb has been dropped yet. Imagine the state of the world, if world powers only studied nuke bomb construction, and deployment? How much worse off would we be?
The same mentality is true in self defense. Are we teaching common sense regularly? Are we teaching people that most attacks could have been avoided by proper governing of actions? I mentioned that point once in a discussion with a high ranking instructor and he scoffed. He asked me: “Do you mean to tell me that you beleive when an individual is attacked at an ATM randomly at 2:00 in the morning, his own actions are in any way to blame?” I said for sure. What was he doing at the ATM at 2:00 AM? What about broad daylight? What about better planning, or using his ATM card at the place of purchase, etc. The instructor’s response was: “How do you know the guy wasn’t in a state of emergency, that just popped up 20 minutes before going to the ATM?” My response was that he shouldn’t take on isolated possibility, and be foolish enough to use it to define each identical occurance. I told him to find 50 people that used an ATM after midnight the past week. Find out how many were in desperate need of cash right then and there, and compare that against the individuals who were grabbing cash for the morning, or coming home from the bar, and other non essential reasons for using the ATM at 2:00 in the morning. Absolutely, the number of non essential after midnight ATM visits will outnumber the essential. That’s my point. It’s the same as a knife wielding opponent. “What is the guy charging at you with the knife just wanted to bolt in the other direction at the last minute, and was only trying to scare you?” Again, line up 50 people who attempted a knife assault in the last week. The number of those who meant business will out number those who didn’t. With that in mind, should we just side step a knife attack once in such altercations, and say to the would be assailant, “I know your just foolin’, silly guy you!”. No.
We need to be sure we are teaching people self defense in the proper steps. Physical technique has to be deadly, because it is the last resort. It should be treated as a last resort, and employed with the proper intensity. But let’s be sure we are teaching people how prevent a fire, just as much as we teach them how to stop drop and roll when they are engulfed in flames themselves. The end result is kind of stupid without lessons on how to prevent getting there in the first place.
Let’s make sure we are teaching such things as:
1- Proper attitude, why, and how.
2- Identifying possible problem situations, avoidance, how, and why
3- Stress management and emotional control, how, and why
4- Respect for others, how and why
5- Self confidence, how, and why.
I have seen more than one system out there boast that they act in accordance with the law in their technical philosophy. That’s great. But what good does it do if the individual you have armed with the knowledge lacks the ability to properly manage their behaviour? A person does not have to have an attitude problem to be foolish. When I hear of students who are great individuals, and model students holding doors open for people, etc, just to get jumped in the park troubles me. It troubles me more so, to learn that they were wearing a jacket that said “Chucks Combat Dojo” on the back. Did he ask for it? Yep. Someone should have taught him the how and why of such a situation.
Don the brown belt catches the bus home from class with his uniform on. What? Are you serious?
Steps 1-5 listed above are what can help reduce the risk of having a physical confrontation. Don’t think anyone walks away from breaking an attacker’s neck free of trouble. No matter if they were in the legal right, they still have to live with that.
1- Did you teach that student steps 1-5?
2- Did his lack of knowledge of those steps, increase the likelihood of his attack?
3- Would his chances of preventing the attack been higher had he been educated in steps 1-5?
4- If the answer to questions 2 and 3 are “yes”, did you teach him self defense?
That individual just took a life. He has to try and mentally cope.
SELF DEFENSE: The ability to defend oneself from harm…..
Did he?
