Real World Violence

Before I get into today’s Budo Blog let me start by stating that I am not second guessing, judging or questioning the victim.  I was not there, I received this information from a news article.  I don’t know the whole story.  I hate when people second guess cops and I will not do that to others.  Having said that please read the following article from the New York Times

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/man_stabbed_during_early_morning_u1casI14SfLzOR0wotz7mM 

There are questions you must ask yourself

Are you training – Avoidance, Running (Escape / Evade), De-escalation?  Or only how to fight, and if so do you consider earning points in a tournament fighting?

Are you training how violence actually happens?  Or are you training only attacks from with in your system that you have defenses against in your kata?

Are you training in the world?  Or does all of your training take place in a Dojo, on mats, barefoot, and in a Gi?

If the answers are no, then what are you going to do about it?

If the answers are no, do you believe you have done any better? 

Would the headline read: “Martial arts super hero kicks ass and gets laid”?

There comes a time in the life of every martial artist when these questions must be asked.  More than likely the answer is going to be no.  That is fine, but it is your responsibility to change those no’s to yes’s.  There is no one superior art.  I am not telling you to abandon what you have learned.  I am however, saying with out a doubt you need to adapt what you know to work in the “real world”

Having said that, my next several posts will be on how you can make those adaptations to your own training so you meet the “building codes”