Threat Management - A Preemptive Decision
"What are you prepared to do?" asks Sean Connery in the film The Untouchables. What a great question, and one that you should consider before something happens, not after something is already happening. People usually have moral, ethical or other beliefs that govern what they will personally do when faced with something. These can be thought about even before one has the skills or knowledge to manage a threat, and are in fact the limiting factors as to whether gaining skill or knowledge is even necessary.
Why waste time learning things that you will not use because your beliefs preclude you from a response? If someone smites you and you intend to turn the other cheek, then there would be no reason to even consider any kind of defense. This pacifistic view also lets you avoid responsibility for yourself or others around you - surely someone else will take care of you when you are in trouble. If you decide now that you will fight with all you have to take care of a problem, you don't have to make the decision again - you are free to act immediately when threatened. If your car is pushed off the road by floodwater and overturns, if you've already decided that your reaction will be to fight, then you kick out the window, swim to safety and think about what kind of car you want to get next.
Sitting in the car while screaming for help is not action. It's nothing. Very likely, no one will rescue you. Decide in advance to be responsible for yourself.
What are you prepared to do?
Why waste time learning things that you will not use because your beliefs preclude you from a response? If someone smites you and you intend to turn the other cheek, then there would be no reason to even consider any kind of defense. This pacifistic view also lets you avoid responsibility for yourself or others around you - surely someone else will take care of you when you are in trouble. If you decide now that you will fight with all you have to take care of a problem, you don't have to make the decision again - you are free to act immediately when threatened. If your car is pushed off the road by floodwater and overturns, if you've already decided that your reaction will be to fight, then you kick out the window, swim to safety and think about what kind of car you want to get next.
Sitting in the car while screaming for help is not action. It's nothing. Very likely, no one will rescue you. Decide in advance to be responsible for yourself.
What are you prepared to do?
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