Sensei says - when to weigh the words your teacher tells you

Every once in a while, I read something online that makes me laugh out loud at the sheer lunacy of the posting. I can't believe someone would have the sheer gall to post something so silly or lacking in logic and hope to be taken seriously. Few things rile me to the point where I have to shake my head. And while I should know well enough to leave some things alone, I am often glad I have seen them to remind me why I am more glad that I am not anything like the one who wrote it.

One such posting comes from a person who I have never met, but I know enough about them to realize these are not people I would take seriously. This individual recently posted his 'disgust' for the survivors of the Utaya island massacre in Norway. His thought? That he could not understand how 85 people could just let one person shoot them all, that "something is wrong with those that chose to run away." His stream of thought continued with the notion that "five or 10 guys risk their lives and rush this guy? They could have overtaken this man and ended it early with not as many casualties." Yet he also says "don’t rush but don’t die without a fight, make your life mean something."

I have heard many thoughts on the atrocity that occurred in Norway at the hands of Anders Breivik. I have heard the left wing, the right wing (Glenn Beck comparing the children to Hitler youth), the various religious streams. Not one seems to have blamed the survivors for living while others died. Until this man.

Now, his premise seems to be that martial leadership should dictate risking your life to save your life or the lives of others. In the case of United flight 93, where passengers took it upon themselves to storm the cockpit to save countless other lives on the ground, I can understand that mentality. You're going to die anyway, save others or prevent further, unknown carnage. That is the textbook definition of not dying without a fight and rightfully so. However, in this case, as in the case of Canada's own Vince Li case, it is smarter to flee lest you die as well. Armed vs armed or no-hope case? Sure, go out with guns blazing if ya got 'em. But if you don't, attempting to overtake someone bent on taking out as many people as possible is not brave. It's dumb. And avoidable.

But anyone who counsels (an unarmed) you to train to try to overtake an armed and aggressive gunman bent on racking up a body count should be avoided at all costs. What if they were driving a car? Really fast? Down a sidewalk? Would his advice be any different? I doubt it. To quote Kenny Rogers, you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em - when to walk away know when to run. In this, case, yes, it was time to run, hide, swim or whatever. Yes they lived while others died. But, they will still likely pay for being part of that horrible day in ways that most cannot imagine. It is a fate worse than death.

This falls against another of his martial gems: "Survival is something we should all know, it should be a human instinct so fight back when we are in danger of any kind." No, human nature is the same as that for most animals: fight or flight. The odds are stacked against you from the get-go. Don't be an idiot. Don't be a hero if you don't have to be. We have to weigh the odds on individual encounters and decide which course of action to take. If we go in half-cocked, with the intent to fight no matter what, why bother training? Are we studying an art of self-defense or an offensive art? Ya gotta use your head before you use your fists or feet. And perhaps if you need to use your feet, it will be to run.

The lessons that I and many of my ilk proffer fall like this: if someone approaches you with a gun or a knife and wants your watch and wallet, give them your watch and wallet. No questions asked. That does not mean you do nothing. You use other skills to work the situation: analyse the person. How tall are they? what do they look like? voice? clothes? Etc. This information is far more useful than a dead person laying close to where the scumbag assailant was standing. You can replace a watch, money, credit cards, possessions. You can never replace a life.

He uses the word bully. This man was not a bully, he was a terrorist of the domestic variety. He was not picking on people, he was making a very deadly political statement. That does NOT equal bully in anyone's dictionary, I would reckon. When it comes to real bullies, I teach kids to walk, talk or run from those encounters. It is not the weak way of dealing with the situation, it is the smart way. If there is no other choice, then stand and fight. Remember this: the same two fingers we use to show the sign of peace are also the same two that we use to bring war. And, when making a fist, they are the LAST two to be curled, not the first. That is a sign that you have time to think before you seal the deal and employ them.

On the other hand? If there is no choice in the matter and you are going to die, no chance of escape, yes, by all means, have at it. Cry havoc and let slip the fists of fury. But again, that advice is not for everyone. You're likely going to die one way or another; at that point, it is going to go one of two ways: survivor or statistic. No matter how either happens, the battle is not over yet: if not for you, then for your family. You live, fight or not, you're still alive AND you're damn lucky. Be happy with that because the trouble, from a mental and emotional standpoint is likely not over. You die, fight or not, you die. It is a sad death either way; for those that count, you're a hero either way. For those that don't, their opinion does not matter. They will not grieve and suffer the way your loved ones and friends will.

As I see it here, the lesson here from all this is to listen for how the person teaching you 'the way' talks and what the words actually are. This man would not be the first to profess to teach a martial art and have a very specific personal agenda. I don't ever want people to follow my 'way of life' as the guide to a better life or a better way of living. I teach them to follow the way of karate, to live karate as a way to be a better person. I do teach people to speak out and stand up against injustice, but they need to decide time and place for doing it. It is better to be a living and breathing fool than a dead fool. Too much anger and violence in the world: why escalate it needlessly? The 'way' of karate I teach is not 'my way', it is the way of those who have come before me who were, in many ways, far wiser than I was. And when in doubt, there is always a referral to the higher power, the great sensei in the sky, as it were. Most spiritual beliefs that I pay any attention to harbour a belief in compassion and preservation of life.

Anyone who dictates that you must risk your life based on his own thoughts and perceptions is not someone you want to follow. Unless they have been there (and I doubt this person has), it is difficult to swallow that someone would look so low on the value of human life for the sake of promoting their own 'system'. It is little secret that I do not agree with this man or his 'art'. But, even for him, this is a low point. If the ultimate goal here was to survive, I would say this falls back to an adage oft heard in Meibukan dojo: it is not about learning how to win, it is learning about how not to lose.

This man seems to equate fighting as 'winning'; in this case, I would say that living is much closer to figuring out how not to lose.

Yet, sadly, in situations like those in Norway on 22 July, everyone lost regardless of whether they lived or died.