h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There is much truth in "Situational Awareness". Col. Jeff Cooper has perhaps the clearest model of understanding the stages and contingency thinking practice. I do believe with commitment and honor one will become self preserving and ultimately continue life rather unaltered.
Question though, THE question is...
What happens when one finds oneself responsible for the safety and preservation of those less developed, physically, mentally, or spiritually and therefore less capable of avoidance of the moment? Such is the case when one is a father, husband, teacher, sheppard, etc.

The trivial, pat answer is that if it ever looks like you're going to be put in a position of responsibility like that - RUN LAK FEKH!

The more serious answer is that if you are responsible for the safety of others besides yourself, that merely increases the extent to which you have to be aware of the situation. If you have responsibility, that responsibility includes knowing when to say "right, let's go", and doing it early enough that it's possible for all.

Please don't forget that this entry was primarily intended as a piece of comedy, and only secondarily as serious advice. And that proposition - that it's almost always better to avoid a fight than to engage in it, even if you would win - stands, I think, whether you're a lone person or the head of an army.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

H.

Hoovooloo - I know that you've decided to leave us - but I'll still post this in case you elect to come back or are lurking - I hope you'll see it and find it interesting.

I actually put into practice the advice you gave above very recently. I have trained quite extensively in the more traditional martial arts (over 20 years of karate plus a fair sprinkling of other stuff) and have always thought that the serious message contained in your comic piece is a sound one.

Before Christmas I attended a work Christmas party. We wound up in a fairly downmarket city-centre pub. The floor was sticky with spilt ale, and crunchy with broken glass. I was aware that, other than the women in our party, the clientele of the pub was almost exclusively male - heterosexual male. There was talk of us leaving, but people kept buying more drinks. One of the girls in our party felt uncomfortable, and another of the woman was comforting her. One of a group of 3 men behind them made some remark to them - I didn't hear it, but it looked unwelcome. I asked the girls (who are both friends of mine) if they were alright. They said yes, but the girl who felt uncomfortable was visibly unhappy.

It was clear to me that I may have to fight one or more of these men. I was confident that I could have won the fight, but my decision was to tell the girl who was uncomfortable that she'd be better with some fresh air. With this I grabbed her by the hand and whisked her out, ensuring that my other female friend came with us - I knew the others would follow once somebody acted decisively.

I'm not sure whether any of my colleagues detected anything unusual - I didn't discuss it with them. I was convinced that it was going to 'go off' in that pub, with or without my presence, and my instincts are usually right in that sort of situation - as a result of my training I am perhaps rather more aware of body language than most. Either way, I felt that the principles of Run-Lak Fekh had stood me in good stead and that I achieved the best possible result - we all left (for a better bar ) and nobody got hurt or upset.

It is indeed the Ultimate Martial Art - the true art of fighting without fighting!