Last week, in Independence Ohio, a guy sucker punched an 83 year-old man in a gas station parking lot, killing him. The same week, a student from my martial arts school, who is Chief Operating Officer for a local hospital told me that they had a man rushed into the hospital with a knife wound to the throat. A man and a woman had been arguing over a parking spot when all of a sudden, the women pulled a knife out of her purse and stabbed him smack dab in the throat! That same week, one of my 12-year-old female private students was walking home from school when she was confronted by a 13 year-old boy who had bullied her on and off for several years. After some words were exchanged, he grabbed her in a front bear hug. She held on tight and kneed him in his lower midsection and then did it again and yet again until he finally let go and fell to the ground.
This all happened in a little postage stamp sized piece of God’s green earth in Northeastern Ohio, which for those of you who might not know know where that’s at, is in the area of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame near Cleveland. Sucker punching, stabbings and bullying happen every day in America, not to mention in other countries as well. And bullying is a nasty gift that keeps on giving, not only when it occurs but perhaps well into adulthood. It can mess with a person’s development and personality for a lifetime.
So what should one do? Well, the 12 year-old girl did what she was taught to do when being physically accosted. In fact, she did exactly what I taught her and reviewed with her just the week before. How about the 83 year-old who got sucker punched by a thug? What could he have done? I won’t armchair quarterback here but think about it, how bad is it when we’re attacked in a gas station parking lot in a good neighborhood? Damn! How about that woman stabbing someone over a parking space. What could that man have done to have avoided being skewered? Not being there, it’s hard to second guess, but letting something like that go and walking away seems to be the best thing to do.
There’s an old saying that life’s a bitch. Well, life’s certainly a continuous challenge. To deal with those who might punch, stab or kill us, we hire people, and I mean law enforcement, to deal with those individuals. Without them, there would be chaos. But they can’t be everywhere and can’t do everything for our safety. So, that’s where we come in.
I say to follow the worn out cliché of, ‘Be aware of your surroundings’ because it works. Cliché’s are cliché’s because they’ve been true for years. Watch people and be aware of their behavior and get away as soon as you feel concerned. Even if someone’s a trained fighter or self-defense practitioner it’s better to avoid confrontations than to stand in the face of them, unless we have no choice. Good guys too, can kill someone with one strike defending against bad guys and is just one of the reasons avoidance is the best course of action, if possible.
The villain who sucker punched and killed the elderly man will never get out of prison so he won’t be a threat to us. But the woman who plunged her knife into the man’s neck (the man survived) will probably be out of the slammer one day and perhaps, harm someone again. And how about the 12 year old girl who was bullied but showed that she won’t be a victim? More than likely, she won’t be bullied again. Word gets out in school about who doesn’t take any crap or who fights back when pushed around and bullies stay away from those kids. But if she does get bullied again, she’ll handle that too, she’s trained.
So I say, avoid bad areas, especially late at night, try to keep away from physical or volatile confrontations and walk away if you can. Get trained in ways to physically protect yourself so if you must, you’ll prevail. These suggestions may sound basic and simple, kind of like when moms used to say, ‘Take your vitamins and say your prayers’, but that simple advice was good too.
Stay safe and survive.
Steve’s latest book:
Steve's a three-time survivor of violence in his youth, a former police supervisor and a graduate of The Police Executive Leadership College (PELC) and was also an award winning part-time college Criminal Justice instructor.
For several years, Steve did written and radio political and current event commentary and was the former host of the long running 'The Kovacs Perspective' Internet radio and TV talk show.
Steve presently owns a small businesses in Ohio--The Mayfield Academy of Self-Defense.
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