Martial Arts - Attitude in Self Defense

To change the mix once in awhile I will blog on martial arts or another interest of mine, motorcycles. Many of you are aware that I was involved in the martial arts from 1957 to 2000. My black belts are: 8th degree Chinese Kenpo, 6th degree American Kenpo, 2nd degree Gokei Shin’yo Ryu Jiu Jitsu, and 1st degree Judo.

Attitude in Self Defense

Attitude is a key element in being able to defend yourself. Have you ever seen or heard of a thin, wiry, short person that just knocked the crap out of a person much larger. If you have not I can tell you it happens all the time.  I am not talking about a trained boxer, martial artist, mma fighter, cage fighter but someone untrained, even though it still applies to trained fighters.

Why does this happen? In the majority of cases based on my personal research and 43 years in the martial arts the answer is: “ATTITUDE”.

I always taught my students only two things happen in a self-defense situation; a winner and a loser. When you make the decision to defend yourself for whatever reason, you must totally commit to be a winner. Your attitude must become totally engulfed with the goal to win because the other alternative is not acceptable.

Preliminary FBI statistics for 2009 indicate in Ohio’s largest cities you have a 1 in 104 chance of being a victim of a violent crime, murder, forceable rape, robbery or aggravated assault. One out of every 104 people will experience violence. One of the problems with the statistics is they are only the reported cases and it is voluntary for Ohio police to report the statistics to FBI. My guess is the chance of attack is much higher.

Over the years I have interviewed hundreds of individuals who were attacked. From domestic violence, bar fights, parking lot brawls, men, women, children, etc. The most often comment I have heard is; “Well, I didn’t want to hurt them.” I have never heard this from someone who won the fight or came out on top in a self-defense situation. Believe it or not, I am not a proponent of violence however, I am a proponent of self-defense. In many situations you can just walk or run away or defuse the situation.

Bottom line: two things happen in a self-defense situation (winner & loser). If your attitude is “I didn’t want to hurt them” then enjoy losing and suffering the consequences. Call me and we will sue the person for injuring you. But if you want to win, you must completely and totally commit to the attitude of winning.

Legal Aspects in Ohio:  To establish the affirmative defense of self-defense, the defendant must show:
1. He was not at fault in creating the situation which gave rise to the use of force;
2. He had a bona fide belief that he was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, and the only recourse was to use force;
3. He did not violate any duty to retreat or avoid the danger. State v. Cassano, 96 Ohio St. 3d 94, 107, 2002 Ohio 3751, 772 N.E.2d 81 (2002). State v. Jackson (1986), 22 Ohio St. 3d 281, 490 N.E.2d 84.