Self-Defense's Spectrum
Let me start by saying I think to say that you should avoid a violent encounter is 100% correct, 100% of the time. I also believe avoiding a hurricane, a flood, a car accident, a horrible neuromuscular, disease, and cancer is also a great idea 100% of the time. I also think avoiding an unpleasant discussion with a drunk aunt, an unpleasant discussion with a coworker, a Papercut, a stubbed toe, and the common cold Should be avoided when possible.
Self-Defense's Spectrum
With all that said, while they are all unpleasant, as should be avoided for your own, psychological and physical well-being, sometimes bad things happen, and sometimes terrible things happen. Just like there is a spectrum for unpleasant things happening, for instance, one end of the spectrum might be a minor Papercut, while the other end of the spectrum could be a horrific car accident, where there was a loss of a limb, and terrible chest wound requiring immediate surgery.
The papercut in and of itself is not very serious, definitely not a horrific injury, however, if not taking care of correctly, there could be a nasty infection, and even though not probable, you could even lose a finger, the cleaning, antibiotic ointment, and Band-Aids can be very important. Wiping the wound, putting on ointment and a Band-Aid, while very important, they do not take much skill or training. A nurse's aide is highly qualified to do those things, in fact, some might say that she is overtrained. So basically, while those skills on the far not urgent or important end of the unpleasantness spectrum. Let's go to the other side of the spectrum.
Somebody gets rushed into the emergency room after a car accident where the patient was T-boned by a truck, and had a traumatic amputation of one arm, a terrible chest wound, where it punctured along and bruised the heart on the far right of this unpleasantness spectrum. And I don't think the nurses aid, while a very caring person, the four months of schooling and training isn't quite sufficient to save this patient's life. For the serious, urgent and horrific situations, we need someone with much more training. I think everybody would agree that while I'm not making any judge on who's a better person, I think that without a doubt 100% of you would rather have the highly trained trauma surgeon take care of the paper cut, than have the nurses aid take care of the trauma patient.
You might be wondering why, but this actually has a lot to do with self-defense. Just like you can be on any spectrum. Everybody is a part of many many spectrums, your age, your schooling, your intelligence, your cardiac output, your pulmonary function, your martial arts expertise, the list goes on, I think you get my point.
So many clichés, but many of them make a very valid and truthful point. Better to be a warrior in the garden, than a gardener in war. or another way to think about it it's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. And while it is better to have a trauma surgeon, taking care of your severely injured family member, then it would be for a very under-trained and unqualified nurses aide. I think the same holds for self-defense. If you had a life-or-death, life-threatening self-defense situation happening to you or a loved one, I would be willing to bet that you would rather have a highly trained and qualified self-defense practitioner, responding than you would someone whose main skill is verbal, de-escalation, and being aware of your surroundings training.
Don't get me wrong, like I said before I think it's 100% better to always avoid a physical confrontation, just like cancer or a car accident, the problem is, sometimes you just can't. While avoiding, or de-escalating the situation is best, if possible, when it can be, you you better be able to get physical. And just like KATA it's fun, and kind of cute to watch, I think anyone who knows anything about true self-defense will admit it has absolutely nowhere in any martial artist, core curriculum. While being aware of your surroundings, and having the skill to de-escalate, someone who is escalated, are both very “important”, they are definitely on the left end of the spectrum. The right end of the self-defense spectrum would be the ability to stop the threat. The threat is always to be treated as someone who is trying to kill you, or your loved ones or cause great bodily injury. Having the "skill" to de-escalate someone using body language and verbal language, or telling someone to look around wherever you go, as in being aware of your surroundings. I think those two things could be covered in the first 15 minutes of a martial arts class, And never really be covered again throughout the students, martial arts journey.
Besides being able to teach in 15 minutes, I don't think it is something that needs to be trained again, that is, if your students have a good moral compass and any common sense. De-escalation includes softening your nonverbal, positioning, and speaking, with a loving tone saying things like, you seem really upset, does someone need a hug. I feel like being aware of your surrounding means wherever you go look around for about five seconds, try to face the door, if at a restaurant, when practical and able, and stay out of bad areas. And for women, that means don't drink in a social setting, unless you are with a sober male.
So basically, let me summarize everything since I did go off on a few tangents. My point is that if you are a self-defense instructor, you should spend the huge majority of the time teaching life-or-death situations. Situations where if not done correctly, you're not gonna just get slapped by your drunk aunt, but you will actually die, or one of your family members might. Again, I'm not saying that the left side of this self-defense spectrum is not important, people get into spots all the time, family, friends, acquaintances, there's always times we have to try to settle down and angry friend, there's a lot of time where you have to physically redirect, a drunk relative, who keeps trying to tickle you. Or when it comes to being aware of your surroundings, it's very important to stay at a bad neighborhoods, look around if you go into a restaurant, and face the door when you're sitting down if possible. All that stuff can be used on a daily basis, it is very important and day-to-day living. My point is it's so easy to teach, and it's such common sense, as opposed to training, and fighting for your life. So I feel like the left side of this self-defense spectrum can be taught by undertrained and underqualified people, and the right end should be trained by people that have the life or death skills to keep you and your family breathing. It's all important guys, but I think we all know who we would rather have in our corner if your life were in jeopardy, the trauma surgeon, and the real self-defense instructor
