Staying Safe.

by Sensei Andrew Falzon

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I’d like to start by saying that I am no expert in the subject of self-defense. The experience I have in club security and door work doesn’t make me an expert in self-defense since there is a clear distinction but there are certain common factors. You will find some parts of this article straightforward or even brutal and I apologies for offending anyone with my words but I will try to be as honest as possible. Parents might want to guide their children through this article, since much of it could be shocking for a child, who should never be on the internet unattended anyway. Please further your knowledge through books and internet since this article is meant to give an idea of what is needed for effective self defense, it should give awareness on the subject not in dept knowledge.

I’ll start with a scenario for you to imagine, so that you can get yourself into the right atmosphere more easily, I have used a real case but omitted any details such as place and time since they’re useless at this point, I have given the victim a name – ‘Jane, walked back to her car after finishing work at seven. It was already dark and her car was parked not too far from work. She got in and drove home totally immersed in her own thoughts. It took her twenty minutes to get home as always. She parked her car right in front of her front door. As she fumbled to get her keys out of her handbag she felt somebody pull her back by the hair and drag her to a car (she had not noticed) parked a few meters away from her home, covering her mouth and telling her to be quiet or she’d get hurt. Jane kept completely still on the passenger seat, not saying one word as the attacker drove to an uninhabited area of town. He stopped the car, ordered her to get out and undress. He raped her and then beat her savagely on the face with his fists and kicked her as she was on the ground and told her he’d find her and hurt her if she reported him.’ - So she did get hurt even though she kept quiet and what should be going through your mind right now is “Could she have avoided all this?”. The answer is that she probably could have.   

The main factor that would probably have saved Jane from this terrible humiliation and beating, is awareness. Awareness is a state of mind in which we are concentrating on our surroundings not on our thoughts, such as what we’ll be cooking when we get home. Staying aware Jane would have noticed the car parked not far from her home, she would have prepared her keys while still in her locked car or driven off in case of any danger. She might have realized a few days before that she was being watched, because just as any other predator, an attacker very often watches and studies his prey’s moves and acts just at the right moment. He may of course take a good chance given at the moment by the victim, so what must be done is to make oneself a hard target. Make life difficult for your attacker without making it too difficult for yourself. There is no need to walk the streets acting as though an army of ninjas is going to attack you at any moment. Including a few habits into your everyday routine could save your handbag, wallet, money or even your life.

You should keep in mind the fact that, anybody is a potential attacker and any situation is potentially life threatening. Therefore the risks must be lowered, by treating the situations according to the danger level they have reached. Defending oneself implies that an attack is taking place and letting the situation reach this level is probably our fault, since we were not aware and let the situation degenerate. Physically defending ourselves means we will probably get hurt. If not seriously we might be psychologically scarred by the experience, since a physical encounter with an attacker is a traumatic experience. It happens very fast, very violently and can get out of control very easily. On one of my off nights in the club I worked in, a bar helper was glassed in the face. He had touched a girl’s handbag because he needed to move the stool it was occupying. Always expect the unexpected, he certainly didn’t and now his scar will remind him to be more careful next time, if there ever is one.

Let’s take a self defense situation and examine it in steps: You are walking at night in a street which does not feel too safe and to make things worse a man walks up to you and asks you for some information. The man is standing only a meter away, and although it all seems so fishy you decide to be nice. Bang, that’s when he hits you hard in the face, you bang your head on the hard pavement and his friend, who had been watching everything (but you had no idea of his existence), comes up to you and kicks you hard in the ribs. They then empty your pockets and leave. Do not expect them to care whether you are bleeding or hurt and thank God if they do not continue to beat you just for the fun of it.

Let’s take it a step back: Imagine the man is a meter away but you take your distance and he gets close again. While taking your distance and changing your field of vision you noticed another man creeping from behind you, a few meters away. Bang, that’s when you hit HIM hard in the face. You then kick the other man, who is now running up to you, hard in the stomach. Doesn’t that feel much better?

Taking it even further back: You cross the road as you see a man approaching, keeping your eyes open. Even better then that, do not go anywhere if it feels unsafe, if it feels unsafe it IS unsafe! Remember not everyone can use the surprise factor and knockout a man with one blow (imagine a 40 kilo female punching a 90 kilo male on the chin and sending him on a trip to dreamland - possible but not probable).

Let’s just imagine one more scenario: You are at the zoo with your family. You are having a great time seeing all the sweet little animals, the monkeys, the squirrels, etc. You then approach the lions’ cage. You just walk straight towards the cage, climb the iron bars and jump in. Ridiculous isn’t it? There is no difference when walking a dark road at night in an area of town known for its high crime rate. If you’re a 100 kg male who has been training every kind of martial art for most of his life and you think you can handle it, just imagine its your 14 year old daughter walking down that road. Remember the lions’ cage? Now imagine throwing her in, because that’s what you’ll be doing if you don’t teach her awareness.

Don’t expect your martial arts training to help you much either, if you don’t include awareness training, fear control and basic efficient techniques into your everyday training. The art form is the soul of any martial art but learn to distinguish between art and self-protection.

If on the other hand you think I’m exaggerating, you have every right to think so but don’t forget that it’s better to be safe then sorry. You have nothing to lose by keeping your eyes wide open, but you may lose everything if you don’t. Why risk being attacked when all it takes is a little awareness? It doesn’t take much training, you don’t need to be a seventh dan black belt, even though it would help. Would you be ready to risk so much if it meant putting your children, wife etc. in danger. Remember stay aware to stay safe.