Self-Defence

What is self-defence? I would define self-defence as the action made to protect oneself from something harmful. This harm could be physical, psychological or even to one’s property or belongings. I was talking about physical self-defence with a few friends and I think I surprised them with my opinions. I feel like writing about physical self defence right now but I’d like to touch on the other forms later.

First off let me say I have never been in a real fight/self defence situation (I did once have to use a little Kung Fu but no blows were thrown so I’m not counting it). I am good at avoiding these situations all together, like any martial artist should be and I have the self control to check myself from allowing a situation to escalate into something bad. I have, on multiple occasions, gotten into situations that would have turned into a fight if I didn’t have the good sense to simply walk away. Sometimes walking away can be difficult, even harder than fighting, but walking away has more positive benefits.

I was out with some friends once when I found myself in one of these situations that would have gone sour if I hadn’t walked away, afterwards one of my friends said he thought I’d never really try to hurt someone in a fight, that I’d be defensive instead of aggressive. I told him that if it was simply a one on one thing where I saw little danger to myself, I wouldn’t try to seriously harm anyone; I would probably defend and try to submit the aggressor or just dismiss the situation verbally. Yes, if some drunk is stumbling around trying to hit you there is little need to use severe force.

I told this friend that, on the other hand, if my health or the health of a friend is in serious jeopardy I wouldn’t hesitate to end the situation in the safest manner possible. Now excluding running away and assuming there’s no way to avoid physical conflict, I would say the safest way (for me) to end a dangerous physical confrontation would be to disable the aggressors in the quickest, most efficient and brutal fashion possible.

What I consider to be a dangerous situation is anything multiple opponent, anything involving a weapon, or where the aggressors are trying to hurt you for no other reason than to hurt you. If you are walking down the street minding your own business and a few random strangers decide they want to hurt you, you are in serious danger, these are people looking to hurt someone for fun and shouldn’t be taken lightly. If my life was at risk or if I risk being serious injured I wouldn’t hold back. I’ve heard too many stories of people getting beat on by a few guys that get carried away and cause some brain damage or a permanent disability. I’d be trying to snap knees, throat strike, knee, elbow, gouge or groin strike, whatever takes them out of the fight the fastest. If you are outnumbered and hit someone you want to make sure they don’t get back up anytime soon.

I don’t want to sound cruel or anything but when it comes down to it, if you’re trying to be gentle you just increase the odds of yourself getting hurt and your own health should be paramount. I don’t think many people understand this attitude or the idea of switching from doing everything possible to avoid violence to using severe violence.

I’ve heard stories involving gangs or groups of people that scare me because of the no win situation they create. For example if you were having a party and some gang shows up and starts causing trouble what can you do? If you fight back and lose, you get hurt and they may come back some other time anyway, if you fight back and win then they will certainly come back or try to get even in another way. Logically the best option to your long term safety would be to let them do what they want or hope the police help. It would take extreme strength of will to let someone hurt if you know it’s the smartest path.

I read something in a book called “Ender’s Game” that really made me think. The main character was being consistently bullied at school by a group of kids, now Ender is very intelligent and he knew that if he didn’t stand up for himself the bullying would continue. He also knew that if he decided to fight back he would have to win and win in the extreme because if he didn’t scare them off permanently they would try to get back at him. So he gets in a fight with the leader of the bullies and hurts him severely, he makes a point of going above what’s needed to send a message to the others and to make sure the bullies will never bother him again. Logically it was a good decision for his self preservation but it isn’t exactly accepted by society and it certainly seems cruel to an observer. If you seriously hurt someone in self-defence you run the risk of going to jail or seen as the aggressor yourself.

So there’s always that Catch-22 hanging over your head. Sometimes the best way to defend yourself is to do nothing and hope you make it out alright, sometimes it may be best to have no mercy. It’s tricky ground trying to walk the line between the extremes. Self-defence isn’t always straightforward.