Piotr and the dangers of a confrontation. Plus the dark side of a fight won.
Who is Piotr? He was a security guard in the North of Germany. He was a father. He did his job protecting people.
Two of the favourite quotations on his Facebook site read:
“Trust is good, control is better.” Lenin
“Trust is the feeling to believe another person, even if you know you would lie in his place.” Henry Louis Mencken
While reading about him, just before the holidays, I had to think about the advertising of so many martial arts schools. The reoccurring implication of how dangerous the streets are. That it is so important, to learn how to defend yourself. While this seems right, in my personal opinion it often leads to the wrong conclusions. What’s wrong with defending yourself if you have the skills?
You really want to know? It can go horribly wrong. Period.
I teach Wing Tsun Kung Fu, self-defense for the underdog. I also teach what you could call a mantra in just about every class, whichever exercise I demonstrate, regardless of the drill I explain, the scenario I describe.
1. Learn to be confident, so that you don’t get picked on as a victim in the first place.
2. Become aware of your surroundings, to avoid walking blindly into trouble.
3. Whenever you can, attempt to talk your way out of a possibly harmful situation.
4. Don’t be a hero! Walk away and yes if you can, run away!
Only if it’s impossible:
- to talk your way out of a confrontation,
- if you can’t run away,
- and if the physical attack is imminent,
- only now aggressively attack the attacker to stop violence before it’s too late.
Many martial arts teachers, masters, grandmasters want to make their students believe that they are (almost) untouchable. To make a long story short, you can have a bad day, plain bad luck, a moment of surprise after all, there isn’t a person who cannot be brought down.
I had very good, very tough WingTsun instructors. Some of them have been in many fights. They have been challenged and they won. But in quiet moments they also talked about having been very lucky. Lucky not having been killed or having ended up in jail. Besides the possibility of losing, there is also ...
The dark side of Self-Defense!
Uuuhhh, the dark side it is, eh? So, what does that mean? Some people could have walked away from an unpleasant situation. Some could have talked and withdrawn. They didn’t. Imagine how your life would change if you successfully defend yourself, yet it goes too far, the attacker falls, hits his head and succumbs to his injuries. You are being sued by the family, end up in a lengthy court battle, have to pay restitution, end up in jail.
Piotr on the other hand didn’t have a choice. He was doing his job, helping and protecting others. He was young, well trained, very aware, yet it went wrong. He was stabbed and even a emergency operation couldn’t save his life.
It was the 20th of December. A few days later, his daughter Michelle spent Christmas without her dad, “Pitt” Piotr T.
Being called names? Be confident and walk away. Don’t let your ego take over.
Schoolyard troubles? Talk to a teacher, a counsellor. Contact asap someone who you can trust; until you find help.
Learn how to avoid being a trouble magnet.
Healthy confidence combined with a good posture and awareness of your surroundings can make a big difference.
Feeling fit, strong, ready to strike? Think you should take someone on? Someone needs to be taught a lesson?
Never ever easily engage in a fight.
Think of Piotr. He was one of the good guys.
