Thoughts on Self-Defense

Kicker Chick left a post with a link to the on-line version of Black Belt magazine. The topic: Women and self-defense. An intriguing article!

The author, Kathy Long, says that most of what we do in TKD is "overrated" as self-defense tactics. She says it's best to go for vulnerable areas: eyes, windpipe, and groin. You can read it for yourself if you click here.

Of course, this is what Brian is always trying to show me.

As you readers might have gathered, I don't really find the subject of self-defense very vital to my life, certainly not in the way it would if I were, say, a police officer. Or a social worker who goes into rough neighborhoods. Or a young, poor woman growning up in a bad part of town.

Still, I suppose it's good to know that if anyone every tried to physically attack me, I'd know what to do. And the self-defense training we occasionally work on in class is giving me a clearer idea of what I would do.

As an aptly-named article, "Know What You're Training For," in the July issue of Black Belt says:

. . . the recipe for action against an armed opponent is as follows: if you're a civilian, your goal is to escape. If you're in law enforcement, your goal is probably to arrest. If you're in the military, your goal is usually to eliminate.

It's good to remember that my goal is escape and not anything more.