Martial Mania
The Vocabulary of Self-Defense
By George Donahue
Over the years, Terry Bryan has written persuasively and
wisely in several venues, including here on FightingArts.com, about the
self-defense value of establishing a healthy, normal behavior pattern,
of making right choices, of making a solid livelihood and environment,
of building the right attitude. I think he covers that very well, and
I don’t intend to repeat what he’s said, particularly since
I’ve done a poor job at living up to that sort of life. My topic
here is something vaguer: worldwide self-defense. As always, I start from
the particular circumstances of my own life.
My son and I (and my country, too, for that matter) share a liability,
and I’m sorry to say that my son got it from his parents, as his
parents got it from theirs. Just as it’s not a good trait for a
country to instill in its citizens, it’s not a good trait for a
father, or mother, to pass along to a beloved child. When we get angry
about a situation, we tend to escalate the situation by mouthing off and
refusing to back down. I don’t do it often anymore, because over
the years I’ve developed at least a little ability to keep it in
check and to avoid trouble in the first place. (I did it last night, though,
and that’s what inspired me to write this article.) My son, however,
is just entering his adolescent raging-hormone stage, and it’s much
harder for him to moderate his reactions. This is a great shame because
it gets him into trouble, frequently. It’s a shame also because
he is actually a compassionate, generous, and sweet-natured kid, who’s
developing a reputation among teachers and his fellow students as a mean-tempered,
explosive hard head. Exactly the reputation I had in some circles in my
youth, even though I believe I was sweet natured, too, even if it was
deeply buried inside. Being a hard head didn’t do me any good and
it’s not doing him any good either. It sometimes did me a lot of
harm and it often harms him, too. We spend a lot of time apologizing,
a lot of time repairing what didn’t need breaking in the first place.
That’s not good self-defense. It makes enemies. It exposes us
to more trouble than we need. It brings battles to us, rather than letting
us choose our battles or avoid battles altogether. It can be extremely
dangerous, to say the least. Some, maybe most, of my closest scrapes when
I was a young man were at least partly my own fault. I have a scar on
my hand that was entirely my fault. It’s become much fainter over
the years, but because of its convenient location, it still reminds me
many times each day that I should never taunt or torment anyone into doing
more than they would have done otherwise. You and I should never expect
that we can remain in control once we’ve unleashed our emotions—or
confronted someone and unleashed or magnified theirs.
Just twenty-five or so years ago, it began to seem as though our world
was on the verge of something breathtakingly novel. It seemed as though
for the first time in history, maybe for the first time ever, more of
the world would be peaceful than belligerent. It seemed as though the
world’s superpowers were at last gaining a measure of sanity, cooperating
to end the Cold War. It was just about that time that I got more peaceable,
too. That cusp came and went for the world, although it has remained in
place for me—most of the time. The vision of a peaceful world was
either an illusion or, more likely, a prospect too uncomfortable and unprofitable
for too many. It was sabotaged from all sides. Now we live in what may
be the most dangerous time ever, everywhere. Nowhere on the planet is
really safe.
With some exceptions, fighting, aggression, and counter-aggression don’t
work to bring about personal peace or lasting world peace. Many countries
have tried to bring peace to the world by waging war, much as I did in
my youth—and my son does now—with our personal battles. It’s
not logical and it has never worked. Even World War II, which many consider
to be the most successful righteous war ever, sowed the seeds of conflict
for the ensuing years. Governments tend to act like adolescent boys; once
things get tight, the raging hormones kick in. It’s hard for a nation
that’s picked a fight to back down. Countries hold grudges longer
than even the orneriest individuals. Even countries with many wise and
compassionate citizens are not immune, but it’s those wise and compassionate
citizens in every country, few or many doing their individual best, who
eventually get countries to change course when their countries are in
the wrong or acting out of adolescent stupidity. It’s those citizens
who jump start countries that are just dead in the water as far as doing
anything to make things better, too.
Those of us who are interested in self-defense are by nature also interested
in the defense of those around us. We tend to stick up for them; our impulse
is to intervene, to help. Sometimes that gets us killed, but I believe
that most martial artists would rather live and die nobly than live a
cringing, selfish life and die a fearful death. That’s one of the
reasons, aside from their capacity to drink beer, I like hanging out with
martial artists—there is a lot of nobility in their hearts, a lot
of wisdom in their heads, however humble they are. On average, too, the
martial artists I’ve met have tended to be more generous than usual.
In harnessing that nobility and generosity of spirit, one of the best
interventions we have within our power is to make living conditions better,
or at least more hopeful, for those who are doing without. Both because
it’s the moral thing to do, according to reason and all the established
religions of the world, and because it’s expedient. People without
hope are desperate people. They will do what they have to do to survive,
to take care of themselves and their families. That might not be bad,
but they’re easily manipulated by others. By giving hope, you reduce
the anger, ease the tension, build peace for the long term. That’s
excellent self-defense. That’s also excellent defense for your family
and friends and community. What better defense than making excuses for
war and aggression harder to find? Than making friends of those who might
under lesser circumstances become enemies? Improving the lives of others
directly improves our own and it makes our children, family, and friends
safer.
Of course, individuals can only make small differences alone, but sometimes
those differences snowball, as other individuals pick up on their efforts
and join in. As an example, a few months ago, when I was looking for educational
websites for my children, I came upon an interesting vocabulary-building
website, Free Rice (http://www.freerice.com). This was founded by a clever
man who wanted to increase literacy at the same time he increased charitable
giving to the world’s poor. According to Mark Bittman, in a January
27, 2008, New York Times article, “…800 million people on
the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, the majority of corn
and soy grown in the world feeds cattle, pigs and chickens” On Free
Rice, you earn rice for donation around the world by defining words correctly.
You improve yourself while improving the world—win, win. The rice
is paid for by the advertisers in the website banners. It goes to feed
the hungry rather than to fuel factory agribusiness. It has a direct impact
and it makes the world a better, safer place for us, and for everyone
else. It’s just a small example of what one individual can do, especially
once he or she’s enticed others to join in.
There are other ways to help, other things to do to increase the well-being,
safety, and happiness of the world. I’ll get to a few more in the
coming months.
Copyright © 2008 by George Donahue
& FightingArts.com
About The Author:
George Donahue has been on the board of FightingArts.com
since its inception. He is a freelance writer and editor, providing literary
and consulting services to writers, literary agents, and publishers, as
well to advertising agencies. He has worked in publishing for more than
three decades, beginning as a journal and legal editor. Among his positions
have been editorial stints at Random House; Tuttle Publishing, where he
was the executive editor, martial arts editor, and Asian Studies editor;
and Lyons Press, where he was the senior acquisitions editor and where
he established a martial arts publishing program. He is a 6th dan student
of karate and kobujutsu—as well as Yamane Ryu Bojutsu—of Shinzato
Katsuhiko in Okinawa Karatedo Shorin Ryu Kishaba Juku. He was also a student
of Kishaba Chokei and Nakamura Seigi until their deaths. He teaches Kishaba
Juku in New York and Connecticut, as well as traveling to provide seminars
and special training in karate, weapons, and self-defense. His early training
was in judo and jujutsu, primarily with Ando Shunnosuke in Tokyo. He also
studied kyujutsu (archery), sojutsu (spear), and kenjutsu (swordsmanship)
in Japan as a youth. Following his move to the US, he continued to practice
judo and jujutsu, as well as marksmanship with bow and gun, and began
the study of Matsubayashi Ryu karate in his late teens. Subsequently,
he has studied aikido and taiji and cross trained in ying jow pai kung
fu. |
