Got in a street fight :(

[Patrick]

Sorry that you had to deal with that, chrissyp. Glad you and the other person are alright.

Patrick

[bushido_man96]

It sounds like things came out well. You kept yourself safe, and used what sounds like a proper amount of force.

Now, the other question is, could the whole situation have been avoided to begin with?

[JohnASE]

Nice.

I knew a guy long ago, lets call him Dave, who wasn't so able to restrain himself. Dave was a dojo owner who had trained at a Karate Kid Cobra Kai type dojo, where it was all about neutralizing your opponent quickly and without mercy. One time, someone came at him with a tire iron or something like that, and Dave took him out. He hit him in the head three times, and the attacker fell. Dave told me he thought the guy was unconscious after the first or second hit, but he had to finish the combination.

The side of the guys head swelled up with a knot the size of a softball. Witnesses told Dave it wasn't his fault, but he should take off anyway, just in case, so he did.

Dave was really rattled. He hadn't been that afraid for his safety, but the lack of control really shook him. He didn't think. He just reacted. That's what he'd been trained to do. Options never entered his mind. It all happened too fast.

Last I heard, Dave had taken up Aikido, hoping that it would give him the skills and the self-control he would need to be able to redirect an attacker should something like that ever happen again.

Chrissy, I'm glad to hear that your training provided you with a better option.

[jaypo]

Nice.

I knew a guy long ago, lets call him Dave, who wasn't so able to restrain himself. Dave was a dojo owner who had trained at a Karate Kid Cobra Kai type dojo, where it was all about neutralizing your opponent quickly and without mercy. One time, someone came at him with a tire iron or something like that, and Dave took him out. He hit him in the head three times, and the attacker fell. Dave told me he thought the guy was unconscious after the first or second hit, but he had to finish the combination.

The side of the guys head swelled up with a knot the size of a softball. Witnesses told Dave it wasn't his fault, but he should take off anyway, just in case, so he did.

Dave was really rattled. He hadn't been that afraid for his safety, but the lack of control really shook him. He didn't think. He just reacted. That's what he'd been trained to do. Options never entered his mind. It all happened too fast.

Last I heard, Dave had taken up Aikido, hoping that it would give him the skills and the self-control he would need to be able to redirect an attacker should something like that ever happen again.

Chrissy, I'm glad to hear that your training provided you with a better option.

Reminds me of the scene in Karate kid III when Daniel San punches that guy in the nose in the club. He reacted. There's a line in "The Perfect Weapon" that always stuck with me. Jeff's Sensei is telling him the difference between the Tiger and the Dragon. The tiger can only react. The dragon can "act" and react, and always has a way out. That always helped me to keep my head in certain situations.