Thank you for the kind compliment and the supportive words.
We who have been trained to fight on the physical level often lose sight of the fact that there ARE other ways to win a confrontation. Letting the physical enter into the situation is, in many ways, a LOSS for the martial artist.
Too often, people are trained that they have to respond in kind when in a physical situation. THIS IS A MYTH!
I have been in chair-throwing, bottle busting fights where they guy who stopped the whole thing did little more than say the right thing.
It's one thing to stand up for your beliefs and be willing to defend them to the death against an aggressor, but, on the streets of today's America - is that really necessary?
On the battlefield, okay. But in a coffeehouse in Chicago's Loop? I somehow find that ludicrous.
I am as willing to debate someone as the next guy and, in my day, I could hold my own in some pretty fast company on a physical fight level. But I pride myself most on the fact that I have not had a physical fight in almost 20 YEARS.
Why? Because I learned a long time ago that my mouth can get me into and out of a situation much faster and less painfully than my fists and feet.
It's a matter of pulling the ego out of the situation, facing the needs of the person confronting you and dealing with them.
Or simply not being there when things get hot.
I am a firm believer in the idea that my physical well being is more important than whether the Cubs have a shot at the pennant or whether a Mac is better than a Dell or even if abortion is a right or a profanity.
Call it age, call it experience, call it cowardice - I don't care. I only fight when someone brings it to me and I can't talk my way out or escape. Or when I see someone beating on someone else who is helpless, of course. I still have a bit of a White Knight streak in my blood.
Again, thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Lee Darrow, C.Ht.
