The Seven tenets of Self Defense

1.  Avoid: avoid is very self-explanatory almost to the point of unrealistic.  Avoid can mean everything from not going shopping ever, never taking your kids to school, just simply refusing to ever go into neighborhoods where there's any crime at all. It makes the most sense and the least sense at the same time.  Avoid covers a large span, and it is very subjective. It would probably be a lot like saying you will avoid ever getting sick, so you live in a bubble. Or it could be a little more realistic and pragmatic like saying, you will avoid going out late in bad neighborhoods. So there is a place for it in my self-defense tenants.

2. Prevent: avoid, and prevent are very closely related, I could almost do a forward slash, or combine them into one tenant, but I feel prevent has a few subtle differences then avoid. Mainly, I feel avoiding is very passive, like staying home, yet prevent is more active, like installing a alarm, learning how to use, and carrying a weapon, or getting motion sensors at your house.  An ounce of prevention is worth getting home safely to your family.

3. Escape: if avoiding and preventing have both failed, your next best thing in order would be escaping. Escaping means the threat is real, you can't avoid it, or prevent it, now you have to get away. A lot of people talk about just running away from a fight will keep you safe, what if you were in an elevator? What if you were a very slow runner there are many times where it is impossible to escape, but you might be in your car. All you'll have to do is close the door and step on the gas, and you have successfully escaped. escaping is always a great option, when it is, but when it's not attempting to escape, might bring you more harm.

4. De-Escalate: de-escalating is very big in self-defense circles. Some people call it verbal judo. Basically you're trying to talk your attacker into being more mellow and less violent. Basically, it's saying you should be very calm and non-aggressive in your verbal and nonverbal communication. I think it's great if you can do it, but it is mainly for a drunk relative, a bully in the bar, or an angry spouse. 

5. First-Strike: is when you couldn't avoid or prevent the attack, you couldn't escape, and then your de-escalation failed, now the bad guy is in your face about to physically attack you. It looks like he has the capability, and the intention to attack you, now. He is in arms length of you, and you feel your life and or Lim are in jeopardy. First-Strike is only to be activated when your first four tenants have failed you. Some people say to never strike first because then you start a fight, but I feel like that is the same as telling a police officer wait till the bad guys shoot at you first before you return fire, definitely not a good idea. The same holds true for a straight attack, you always want to strike first, after all other options are gone. All other things considered, the person, throwing the first strike, will have the advantage in winning the altercation. When I say winning, it has two different meanings, for the attacker to win that means he will hurt you or kill you or get your property or your families. For you to consider a win will mean you're just getting home to your family safely. And in Hawaiian Kempo, we have a set of "first strikes".

6. Once the first strike has been thrown, whether that is a punch, a kick, a shove, a takedown attempt, now the "fight" is on.  I consider it a fight, once it is clear to both participants that they're trying to separate each other from their consciousness. Everything else has been tried and failed. The avoidance, prevention, escaping, de-escalating, even the first strike, failed to take your attacker out. He is still a threat, and therefore you have to fight. There are two main objectives, or goals in any fight, and they are in this order. Keep your consciousness, and stop the threat.

7. Aftermath: is sometimes described as defending yourself for defending yourself. When you defend yourself or your family's life, even if you follow all the laws of self-defense you could still be looking at a very lengthy, legal fight in front of you. A bad guy is a bad guy, even after the physical attack, he's still a bad guy.  And many times these bad guys have bad families, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. After your attack is successful, he think it's all over, but the bad guys family see is dollar signs because you hurt their family member. And even if you did everything by the book, didn't cross any lines, and you dotted all of your I's and crossed all of your T's you could very well be looking at a new investigation which could lead to your possible arrest, or even prison time, and or a civil case, where the bad guy attackers family wants to get every penny you have. This will go much easier for you, since you followed all of the laws, and did not get overzealous in your defense, but if his lawyer is better than yours, and you have a terrible judge and 12 clueless out of work, unemployed, double digit, IQ jurors, you could be looking at Prison time, and or losing every penny you own, poverty. 

That's our seven tenants of self-defense, and a brief explanation for each tenant.