In Real Life Danger?

[Tjang]

Dear Martial Artists:

There is a story of, let's say, a black-belt in a certain martial art, who has been a teacher (master) for many years and has won lots of championship, but when accidentally encounter a couple of bandits on the street he cannot perform what he is a master of.

Wearing leather shoes and dressed neatly in daily shirts and pants, he becomes very awkward with his martial-art-skill, because he is accustomed to wearing a training uniform and to bare-footed combats in the arena, perhaps with a jury.

Fighting in the street becomes something new to him, moreover because he is at that moment thinking of the consequences that may result from hurting or even killing somebody, the revenge that he may get if the bandits happen to know where he lives or works, the revenge that may be cast onto his family instead of himself, and all the trouble related to the police and legal authority, or even the racial issues that may appear afterward.

Please give me your opinions on what we have to do if we are unfortunately trapped into a really threatened situation in the street? Running is supposedly the first choice, what are the others? And how do we cope with the situation mentally within a very limited time? Thank you.

[tsefreeflow]

The most important thing is that you survive. All the other stuff you mentioned can be dealt with after you survive, because if you dont survive, worrying about it was a waste of time.
If you cannot instantly bring yourself to kill or seriously hurt someone, you should stay home all the time and never leave.
If you can walk away, do it. There should be nothing to prove.

[Tom Yum]

That's a very good question, Tjang.

Since you are from Indonesia, I can imagine this is probably a serious issue. I do not know the laws of Indonesia. In most instances, you should probably run away.

In the US, you can defend yourself to the extent of the danger. If your life is threatened, you can justify your defense with brutal force if necessary.

For example, if someone rampages into your home with clubs and you have a loaded gun, you would probably have the law on your side for killing in defense not to mention societies side too as others who would have behaved the same way.

The police should know about it, as should concerned 'friends', neighbors and citizens.

You should be ready and willing to defend yourself.

[krys]

There is a story of, let's say, a black-belt in a certain martial art, who has been a teacher (master) for many years and has won lots of championship, but when accidentally encounter a couple of bandits on the street he cannot perform what he is a master of. Wearing leather shoes and dressed neatly in daily shirts and pants, he becomes very awkward with his martial-art-skill, because he is accustomed to wearing a training uniform and to bare-footed combats in the arena, perhaps with a jury.

What kind of master is he if he cannot fight outside his training environment? If he gets attacked by bandits chances are it will be an ambush and it is unlikely witnesses will be around.

In the southern Philippines there are still many bandits and pirates, peoples there are very fierce and life is very cheap there...
One of my masters uncle, a silat-escrima expert, once quarreled with 3 bandits while armed with a barong, kind of heavy parang, ( I don't know the exact reason for their quarreling)...nobody ever heard of the bandits afterwards.

[Tom Yum]

Wearing leather shoes and dressed neatly in daily shirts and pants, he becomes very awkward with his martial-art-skill, because he is accustomed to wearing a training uniform and to bare-footed combats in the arena, perhaps with a jury. And how do we cope with the situation mentally within a very limited time? Thank you.

Lots of MMA training these days involves shoes, shorts and shirt so its not too different than that scenario.

Some people can get into a 'zone' when they fight, do you know what I mean TjanG?

When they get into a tough situation, they can get focused and determined.

[Tee Sok]

You are from Indonesia and I believe things are more difficult and dangerous
there. If you can, just don't mind about them. Try to avoid a possible fight, and ad Tom Yum said, you should run away if things get nasty. No shame in that. They should be ashamed of their coward-like behaviour, not you trying to save your life.

[Tjang]

Thank you.

Thank you all, my martial-artist friends, for your comments and advice.

Krys wrote: “What kind of master is he if he cannot fight outside his training environment?” Yes, Krys, I don’t know if we have to say that it is a shame. But I think many people train for different purposes than to really fight; some train for hobby, for health, for sports, for cultural reasons, even for performing on the stages. And many people do not realize (hopefully I am wrong) that it is not enough to learn “kumite” only, because it can be very different with real life self-defence.

Tom Yum wrote: “Some people can get into a 'zone' when they fight, do you know what I mean Tjang?” I am sorry, Tom Yum, I think I need a small hint or clue to understand the ‘zone’.

Once again thank you.