In your adult life, how many times can you think of that you or one of your close friends has been physically assaulted - as in, some situation that we train for in our martial arts? For me, off the top of my head...
- I was in a multiple-attackers, knife assault in Krystals in Bessemer Alabama in college.
- A friend of mine was attacked by a handful of rowdies one New Years night in college.
- A friend of mine had her breast grabbed by a guy at a dance club - the grabber was then dispatched by her boyfriend.
- A friend of mine in college used a wristlock to shut up a smartalek that grabbed his arm in a bar.
- Some low-life street punks threw a brick at me and my son a couple of years ago, then ran off.
...and that's about it. And that's pretty much straining at gnats to try to remember situations.
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Question 2:
How many times in your adult life have you or your close friends fallen down - as in an unintended descent to the ground?
- A buddy of mine slipped yesterday on a waxed floor and hit on the back of his shoulders.
- Another buddy of mine fell off his roof a couple of weeks ago.
- My elderly mom fell three times in the past two weeks, and she has fallen a couple of times in the years before that.
- A building contractor friend of mine has fallen off of a ladder twice recently.
- I can remember three of my patients falling during my rehab career.
- My elderly dad fell from a ladder off a porch a couple of years ago.
- I got an email from a college buddy the other day saying that he slipped twice playing soccer with his son.
- A buddy of mine fell off of an elevated porch when a rotted step broke under him a few months ago.
- My wife tripped and fell in a school parking lot when she was pregnant with one of our sons.
- A student of mine fell out of a moving truck at work.
- Another friend of mine fell about 25 feet off of a telephone pole at work!
- Another student of mine slipped on wet concrete and landed on the back of his head.
- I slipped twice in college - once on snow and once on mud - and I frequently tripped running up steps.
...and that's just the ones that I can remember in about 5 minutes without really trying too hard.
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Unless your job involves people trying to hurt you (police, military, etc...), you are probably like me and my friends...
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You will slip, trip, and fall many, many more times in your life than you will ever be assaulted.
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And I'm not talking about just a little bit more likely. I'm saying your likelihood of falling is orders of magnitude greater than your likelihood of being assaulted.
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Question 3:
What proportion of your class time do you spend practicing dealing with violent assaults and what proportion do you spend carefully, systematically learning to control unexpected falls?
