The group gave their predicted response of good-natured laughter - the kind that comes when you're glad it isn't you on the business end of a nasty technique.Well now that I'm here, I might as well show you a little trick I learned. One way to get out of a hold like this is to grab their pinky like so....and pull it back in an extreme angle like this... One of two things will happen. Either he will let go, or I will break his finger and then he will let go.
Approximately thirty hours later, a naive, blond freshman was walking home alone on Rugby Road. It had been an active night on "fraternity row." Somehow, young students seem always to walk around the grounds of the University (and across streets) as if they are invulnerable and the world will take care of them. As she took a shortcut across the front lawn of The President's home, a dark figure came from nowhere and grabbed her from behind. Before she knew what was happening, she was being dragged towards some large bushes that were easily decades old and plenty of cover for something very bad to happen with little chance of discovery. Suddenly a thought crossed her panicked brain. She reached, grabbed the pinky, and pulled it in an unnatural angle. Snaaappp! The two of them awkwardly tumbled to the ground. Seconds later, the attacker was gone.
About a month later, an article appeared in The Cavalier Daily describing the incident. The woman who was attacked agreed to an interview, as long as her name was not mentioned. One would think this was an opportunity to be proud and grateful. Instead, it was a story describing a very troubled young woman whose entire outlook on life had been shattered. Already she had dropped several of her classes. She had backed out of several dates at the last minute. She was angry... She was angry that the police were busy towing cars from Scott Stadium parking lot for the football game the next day, instead of showing a presence on Rugby Road. She was angry that her attacker had not been found. She was angry at...men. Nowhere in the interview did she express recognition for how lucky she was. Somehow she just couldn't see things that way.
Martial artists, military personnel, and police officer instructors spend a lot of time equipping and preparing their charges for duty. There is the issue of the attack. There is the issue of the panic of the moment. There is the force continuum to consider. There are laws to be considered right when we are about to meet our maker.
And then there is the aftermath.
Recently I had a chance to read a thread on Van's forum. It had evolved quite a bit before I spent about a day reading and absorbing about 50 posts. It was easy with 20/20 hindsight to make a constructive contribution. I made note of some interesting phenomena. I was somewhat aware of the background of many of the personalities involved. We'll all survive today, I thought.
Later that evening I watched a Dateline program. I'll share the print version of it here. Make sure you read both parts. The first part deals with an incident...
www.msnbc.com/news/506619.asp
and the second part the aftermath...
www.msnbc.com/news/506710.asp
In our efforts to prepare students for the worst, we speak of the force continuum. Perhaps it is our duty as instructors of martial arts to also recognize an important time element - the psychological continuum. It starts when our brain experiences that first Uh oh... and then it goes on to the Oh $hit.. phase. If we are lucky, we are standing after the physical confrontation. But it doesn't end there. For some, the assault goes on for years, and it can evolve to the very end that our attacker intended in the first place. Talk about delayed death touch...
Society seems to "forgive" women for psychological illness, albeit begrudgingly. It's not as forgiving of men who don't "snap out of it." Somehow dwelling on the past with melancholy eyes seems so unmanly to many. And women wonder why guys aren't sensitive? Ultimately though the toughest can fall just as easily as the yin among us - all the harder when it is more difficult to accept.
Have some of us dropped the proverbial ball in the past? Are there opportunities around us today? Is this not made worse by the holidays? Is there something to this evolution from karate jutsu to karate do? There is much to ponder. And...there are those among us who have much to contribute.
- Bill
[This message has been edited by Bill Glasheen (edited December 27, 2000).]
