I want to tell you a story. It's a true story, although I really wish that it wasn't.
First, I want you to imagine a self-defense class filled with eager participants. This particular class is filled with women learning how to protect themselves against larger, stronger assailants.
In fact, this womens self-defense class is the last of a four-week program called, "Ladies' Night Out." We were focusing on ground pins and other situations that dealt with manhandling-type actions typical of rape attacks.
Everyone was having a great time, both physically and socially. The class was going great. Even the serious discussions were enjoyable and engaging because everyone was there in a spirit of mutual support to get, what everyone agreed was, a very important issue for women in Today's often violent world.
"So? What's the deal?", I can almost hear you asking.
Well, the "deal," so-to-speak, hasn't happened yet.
You see, the class ended with everyone in high spirits. We even enrolled a few of the women into regular classes as a result of them learning so much and having such a great time.
Nothing could be better, right?
Right.
However...
...something could be worse. VERY much worse.
And, like I said...
I STILL get chills just thinking about it!
What is it? What could give a 10th degree Black Belt chills and effect him for over a year after the event?
Good question.
You see, while that fourth class was going on. During the very time I was teaching women how to not be victims...
...to be able to avoid, escape, or fight back effectively against a savage attack...
A 13 year old girl was being brutally raped mere yards from the front door of my Academy!
Now, how's that for a kicker?
While I was teaching other women, many of them this girl's age, how to defend against this very thing...
...she was experiencing the nightmare first-hand!
And, like I said...
...she was only a few hundred feet...
...not even half the length of a football field...
...from where women just like her were being empowered with the lessons and skills that she could have used to escape from her attacker.
As a police officer, I remember doing reports on victims who were attacked virtually on-top of bystanders or near potential witnesses...
...who never knew the attack was taking place!
That's one of the reasons I do what I do now.
I came to the realization that...
...as a cop I was doing more reports than saving people from 'bad-guys," and...
...victims cannot depend on anyone but themselves in those first few crucial moments of an attack.
So, here I am... Years later... Teaching people how to effectively deal with violence in a way that allows them to go home safe and sound.
And yet, reality slaps me in the face by having this happen so close to me. AND, while I was teaching the very things that could have saved this girl from weeks of physical healing and years of emotional and psychological scarring.
And through it all, there is a lesson you know? We must see through this girl's suffering and pain to see it.
No. We must be able to see beyond our own apathy and inaction to see it.
What's the lesson? It's this.
That sitting behind our computer...
...wasting away watching TV...
...reading books about it...
...or thinking that you'll do it "some day"...
Will NOT get you the information you need for being safe Today.
This girl, probably influenced by her parents, teachers, and other mentors, somehow came to believe the one thing...
...THE one thing that all victims have in common.
She believed, through ignorance or denial that...
..."It would never happen to her."
Well...
It DID happen to her!
And only a few dozen feet from MY front door!
And, you know what else?
It really ticks me off that it happened!
No, it doesn't upset me that there are rapists in the world... There are.
It doesn't upset me that low-life's attack good people - They do.
What does tick me off is that, in this day-and-age of...
high crime
daily assaults
rapes, and now...
terrorism
...that people sit idly by and either believe that, "It won't happen to them," or...
...they expect that the government - the police - or somebody else - should protect them.
Well, not only won't they, but they CAN'T. "They" can't be everywhere at once. "They" can't be with you 24/7.
And...
...not only CAN it happen to each and every one of us...
...the mere fact that there's an assault once every 17 seconds in the United States alone, means...
...it PROBABLY WILL happen.
But...
I KNOW that you're aware of this fact, right?
I KNOW that you don't live in the deluded world of "won't happen", right?
I KNOW that you take action to get the much-needed lessons you need to be safe and secure in this world...
Right?
As I've always said, and the brutal assault on an innocent young girl reminds me, in Today's world...
Self-Defense is not a choice...
It's a RESPONSIBILITY!
Jeffrey M. Miller is the founder of Warrior Concepts International. He is a highly sought-after trainer, consultant, and expert in the areas of self-defense, workplace violence defensive tactics, and personal protection. He is the author of several books, and videos, including: "The Science of Self-Defense," and the dvd, "Danger Prevention Tactics: Protecting Yourself Like a Pro," and is the co-producer of the self-defense & martial arts podcast called KUDEN. For more information and to download your free self-defense report entitled, "Fight Smarter - Not Harder" visit his web site at: http://www.warrior-concepts-online.com
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