Don't drink in public

This is an inflammatory statement for some reason. People say "I have the right to drink wherever I want, nobody can tell me where I can or can't drink". That might be true, and legally you can, but statistically, your chances of getting attacked, assaulted with great bodily injury or even raped go up tenfold. You have the right to wear a shirt that says "I hate Crips", and go walk around south-central LA, there would probably be bad and violent repercussions, yet no one would complain about their rights. They would just not risk that because of common sense. I don't think there's ever been a study saying it's dangerous, or that you shouldn't wear a shirt that says I hate all Crips, yet for some reason I would bet you the majority of people with any common sense at all would know that that is not a good idea and it could get them injured, or worse, but for some very strange reason even though there is so much proof that drinking increases drastically your chances of being injured, raped, beaten, people still ignore the proof, ignore the truth, ignore the statistics, pretend they are invincible. As a martial arts practitioner, and instructor for most of my life, I'm trying so hard to keep my students healthy, safe, and happy, this is a very hard pill for me to swallow. But as much as it boggles my mind, it is still the truth, and people still ignore the truth and continue to put themselves in such harms way. It's funny if somebody doesn't like a clear-cut truth, even though they know it is 100% correct for a fact, for some reason they'll turn it into a "right" even though it's a proven very dangerous and harmful "right". So when it comes to preventing being attacked, even though for some very strange reason this is politically incorrect and "triggers" the majority, I would say without a doubt not drinking in public would be my number one tip for you.

The arguments I get when I talk about this topic would be comical if I knew they were not getting some many people brutalized every year. It actually gets people so defensive. For some reason people think that when they're drinking it doesn't affect her judgment, their reflexes, their agility, or even their consciousness level, maybe that's why drunk driving is such a huge and deadly issue in our country. People are in denial about what alcohol does to them. Even our court system treats them with kids gloves. It's kind of a good old boys thing, and a bunch of people go to a couple meetings and get their license back and it's kind of like wash rinse repeat.... Or in this case drink, cause some damage to yourself or worse other people, and repeat. I went off on a little tangent about drinking and driving, and a lot of people would say what does that have to do with self-defense on martial arts, well I think the lack of discipline, judgment, or even common sense when it comes to drinking in public, has a lot to do with the tenants of martial arts. And since I'm trying to keep my students alive, healthy, and happy, I think it's relevant.

Anyone who has seen me out in a bar, or even on my martial arts mat for that matter, knows that I have a lot of fun. I love to dance, I love to socialize, and I love to goof around. I don't think anyone has more fun when they go out than I do, and I'm 62 years old, and I've never been drunk. For some reason I just always knew even when I was a kid going to parties in junior high school and high school, I knew that the people getting drunk didn't have any control over what they were doing, and their judgment was very impaired. I never wanted that, so I decided early I would never "go there". Even as a child watching people get drunk they always were the people who were starting the fights and the drunker person would always get their ass kicked worse. That does not sound very smart to me.

So I will close with this. I want the best for all of you guys. I want you to be safe, healthy, and happy. If you wanna have some drinks at home, or with some friends, that's one thing, but getting drunk in public now you're putting yourself in harms way whether it's better judgment, lack of reflexes, common sense, or even consciousness makes you defensive against the building or even rape. I really don't see an upside to that, do you?