I’ve got a similar background and agree with your conclusions, especially the “you don’t know” part.
I just put in a couple of stories, but think I might have been over-disclosing, so I removed them.
Anyway, you’re right: there’s sports martial arts, and then there’s real fighting. Sports martial arts has rules, and in addition to that, in real fighting, the stakes can be much higher. Not getting maimed is far more valuable to me than a trophy from some tournament.
Not getting maimed is far more valuable to me than a trophy from some tournament.
When I finally got to the point that I was learning knife-fighting, my teacher told me “If you get in a knife fight, even if you win, you will probably lose.” And went to tell me stories of bar fights where both participants died later, or the person standing at the end lost an eye or ended up with permanent, disfiguring or debilitating injuries like severed tendons and organ damage.
I don’t want to get in fights. I do everything I can to avoid fights.
Even still I’ve had to fight home invaders, it’s incredibly scary when you don’t know what someone is going to do, what they’re carrying, or how it’s going to end and you know you have to fight to survive. The post-fight emotions and feelings are insane.
I’ve got a similar background and agree with your conclusions, especially the “you don’t know” part.
I just put in a couple of stories, but think I might have been over-disclosing, so I removed them.
Anyway, you’re right: there’s sports martial arts, and then there’s real fighting. Sports martial arts has rules, and in addition to that, in real fighting, the stakes can be much higher. Not getting maimed is far more valuable to me than a trophy from some tournament.
When I finally got to the point that I was learning knife-fighting, my teacher told me “If you get in a knife fight, even if you win, you will probably lose.” And went to tell me stories of bar fights where both participants died later, or the person standing at the end lost an eye or ended up with permanent, disfiguring or debilitating injuries like severed tendons and organ damage.
I don’t want to get in fights. I do everything I can to avoid fights.
Even still I’ve had to fight home invaders, it’s incredibly scary when you don’t know what someone is going to do, what they’re carrying, or how it’s going to end and you know you have to fight to survive. The post-fight emotions and feelings are insane.