Heroes Die Young - Something Every Martial Artist Needs to Learn

batman and robin by rmkoske.jpg

You are NOT Batman

I want you to read the sentence above one more time. Now, most people probably understand that they aren't a superhero. The problem is there are a lot of people who say that they know they aren't a superhero, but who, deep down, really do think they are or really wish they were. In most instances, it's totally harmless. The problem is in some instances, particularly for martial artists, it can get you killed. To illustrate my point, I'd like to share a story from a newspaper clipping shared with me by one of my instructors about a Muay Thai instructor.

Now, this gentleman had apparently had been training for over a decade, had won several championships and was a fairly distinguished fighter. His school was located in what some people might call a 'transitional' area of the city, it wasn't considered a bad area or known for crime by any means, but it was the kind of place you wouldn't necessarily want to be alone after hours.

The instructor had just finished up his evening class, and was chatting with students when out the front window the group noticed a man wrestling with a woman across the street for her purse. The instructor immediately told one of the students he was talking with to call the police, and bolted out the door.

The man robbing the young lady looked up and, seeing a tough looking guy sprinting out of a Muay Thai gym yelling at the top of his lungs, sensibly let go of the purse and ran. The instructor reached the woman and asked if she was alright. She was scared, and shaken up, but not hurt and the would-be robber hadn't even gotten any of her things. Now, this is the part where a hasty decision was made. The instructor had chased off the criminal, he hadn't gotten any of the young lady's things and, much more importantly, no one had been hurt. At this point, everything could have ended.

Unfortunately, the instructor must have felt that it couldn't be left at that, and told the young lady he was going to go get the guy. He took off sprinting again after the criminal who could still be seen running down the street. Being in significantly better shape than the robber, the instructor made quick gains on him and before long had almost caught up with the guy. Upon catching him, the skilled instructor could have easily taken the winded thief apart without breaking a sweat. The robber must have realized this because, as the instructor got closer, the man turned around, drew a handgun, and shot the instructor several times. The instructor died and, as of the time of writing of the news article, the robber/murderer had not be caught.

Now, I want to be absolutely and totally clear here, I respect what he did and in every way consider him to be a hero. In no way would I ever suggest that he were stupid for deciding to chase down the criminal, it was a split-second decision and in many ways it was extremely honorable. However, I do think it illustrates a good point. As a martial artist it is generally accepted that you have a responsibility of sorts. With the skill and training to keep people from being hurt, most martial artists would not hesitate to do what that man did and throw themselves into harms way for the benefit or safety of another person. It is imperative, however, that as a martial artist you stay mindful of the potential ramifications of what you do. Had the instructor in our story waited for the police to arrive rather than chase down the man himself, valiant though it may have been, no one would have been hurt.

Hero Syndrome

While I don't think it applied to the instructor, there is another thing martial artists need to watch out for - something I call Hero Syndrome. Hero Syndrome, as I define it anyway, is a condition wherein the afflicted have a great deep seated desire to do something heroic, feel a duty to do so, or think that they are tough enough to take on anyone. Hero Syndrome, in many ways, is usually a direct extension of egoism in some form or another. It's symptoms include but are not limited to talking about how awesome you are, daydreaming about fighting off a mugger and practicing tough catch-phrases and one-liners in the mirror.

Sure, it sounds silly and relatively harmless put like that, but it can genuinely get you in trouble. Not just like principal's-office trouble either, I mean lying-in-a-morgue-evening-news-crying-family trouble. The problem with Hero Syndrome is that it can make it extremely easy to forget about your own mortality, and unfortunately even forgetting that you can die (and pretty easily too all things considered) makes you no less vincibly mortal than before.

If you've been here a while you already know my stance on conflict avoidance. While I've covered some of these points elsewhere, I think they bear repeating because this is one case where not listening can genuinely get you killed.

What to Do

Fight When you Know you Have To - O.K. so I know making the first point of advice something that's entirely subjective probably violates some unwritten rule on advice-giving, but I think it's important. If it becomes evident that a person genuinely wants to cause you harm and that is their primary motivation, whether that means a gut feeling or them just outwardly telling you, you should fight. I am of the opinion, as I've talked about before, that if you reach this point all bets are off and you should fight for your life. Some Aikido-ka and other people might disagree with the lengths I would go to, which is absolutely fine. I'm of the opinion that it's a matter of personal choice and you should decide on your own what you're comfortable with.

Fight to Not be Taken - At one time I knew the statistic, although now I can't seem to find it so unfortunately I can't give it to you (anyone who does know it let me know in the comments) but something like 80% of all cases in which a robber/mugger or whatever talks their victim into going somewhere with them, that victim is killed. Never ever ever let a criminal relocate you. Even if they say they'll let you go afterward, even if they have a gun in your face, you have a significantly better chance of surviving if you don't allow yourself to be moved. Generally, if someone wants to move you it's because they want a quiet, secluded place to murder or rape you, or both. Don't make it easier on them.

Give them Everything but your Life - I extend this to rape too, since a lot of rape victims say at some point they would have rather died, and to assault/beatings because that can turn into murder fairly easily. If they only want material things, your money, your watch, your phone, even your car, let them have them. However if they want to beat, rape or murder you or someone you're with than you should respond with whatever level of force you're comfortable with. This rule is obviously overruled by the one above though. If they say they want you to drive you around to ATMs to take all your money but won't hurt you, do not take their word for it.

Walk Away from Arguments and Jerks - This ties in to my personal justification for being able to maim or kill a person. I also think that, with the exception of sports, no martial artist should ever 'fight' - they should just 'defend.' What's the difference? Some jerk at a bar questions your sexuality, tells the lady you're with that she's overweight or some other obscene things, and then dumps their drink on your head. Now, if you call the jerk names matching those he called you, or stand up to defend the honor of your lady friend, or say something along the lines of 'Nobody talks to me that way' then, guess what, you're in a fight. No punch has been thrown yet, but by escalating the conflict you are now in a fight, and are responsible for any harm that comes to either of you. Now, if the same jerk accosted you and you politely excused yourself and your lady friend, walked out of the bar and the jerk followed you out, got between you and your vehicle and physically touched you or attempted to do so, then you would be defending yourself. If at any time you escalate the conflict in any way I no longer consider it defense, however if you've done everything you can to avoid conflict (that usually means leaving) and they still attempt to lay hands on you or another then it is definitively defense.

Remember that You Can Die - I would never suggest that you should ignore someone who needs help, nor like I said do I find any fault in the sacrifice of the Instructor in the story earlier (although I do consider it a tragedy). You need to remember though that it could mean your life. I, personally, would have no problem risking my life if it meant saving someone from being raped, murdered or brutalized. However, I'm not willing to die to protect someone's wallet. I can't offer any concrete guidance here, because it's entirely a personal decision. I can only make the suggestion that you put some real thought into it, and that you don't disregard your own mortality.

What Not to Do

Die for Your Stuff - I know, I'm repeating what I said earlier, but you can cancel credit cards, insurance will cover a stolen car, and who really carries that much cash on them anymore anyway. Sentimentality isn't worth it either. Can you imagine your Mom standing at the podium at your funeral and saying, "I'll always miss him, but at least he didn't let them have his watch, that's been in the family for years." Probably not. Everything can be replaced, even a million dollars can be earned twice - you can never be replaced.

Be Tough - If you are getting mugged and you say any of the following things, you will probably die: "I know Karate/Kung Fu/Whatever," "I don't want to hurt you," "You should run while you still can" or anything that even remotely sounds like you want to fight. There will never be an instance where someone is threatening you and then, upon hearing something like that, will say "Oh gosh, I would quite certainly come out of this tussle worse for the wear, good day to you sir." They are either going to get more angry, or get geared up because they know now that you intend to fight them. This also applies to taking a fighting stance. If you have to defend yourself it's wise to put your hands in a ready position that is non-threatening ( like keeping your palms open in an I-give-up way), this helps keep the aggressor relatively relaxed, and if you're going to have someone with a gun or knife in your face, it's best if they're relaxed.

Think Criminals will Avoid You if You Look Assertive - Suppose you see someone shady walking down the street ahead of you. Now, a lot of people would say the best thing to do is make eye contact, puff your chest out, and make it clear that you're not a victim and won't be pushed around. They say that criminals will pick someone else who is an easier target. Now, let me tell you, if I plan on robbing or killing somebody, and I have a gun or a knife, I don't care if Chuck Norris in all his tough-guy splendor is strolling down the street. Guns and knives don't care if you're tough, conversely they have the interesting ability to make relatively weak people feel like they're the toughest person in the world. So what do you do? Walk down another street. Why walk by the person at all? If my choice is between getting shot or stabbed, or being five minutes late because I took a detour, I'll pick tardiness every time. For the most part, if you have a bad feeling about someone it's for a good reason. Without getting into long discussions on qi and energy and vibes and things your instincts are there to keep you breathing, pay attention to them. Conflict avoidance isn't about being too tough to target, it's about being too smart for the criminals to ever get anywhere near you.

What it All Means

There are three kinds of people who will read this article: People who already know better and didn't need to read it, people who don't know better but won't listen to anything I've said and (hopefully at least a few) people who needed to hear it and will actually listen. I know some of you are out there thinking, "Come on, everyone who has ever had a martial arts class knows this stuff already." That may be the case, but I've known martial artists (martial artists that were a number of ranks in even) who thought that being in a knife fight would be "cool." That scares me. So hopefully, at least one person out there who needs to hear this will think about what I've said. The main thing I want people to take away from all of this is that you can lose your life quicker than you would believe, and you should never forget that. If you have anything to add, advice for people who may be prone to put themselves in danger, or if you think I'm the pinnacle of stupidity and everything I've said here is absolute hogwash, then leave a comment. Really, this is a community after all, and we'd love to hear what our readers think.

If you liked this article, please share it - it really helps us out: