Hello Friends - I haven’t given a lot of time to my posting habit these days, but I’m still here lurking almost daily on your feeds.

This winter has been much different from the last, in terms of things-the-universe-wants-from-me™.

Apparently, I’m supposed to transition back to cubie life 5 days a week, find a snazzy new home, get back in shape from, you know, the last two years, and find time for my addictions to network political dramas, the expanding Star Trek universe, A03, creating more and more tasty Asian flavored home cooked meals, obsessing over my new Vampire RPG character, and making new friends (cause lots of mine just moved away - damn you inevitable career advnacments as we hurdle towards middle age). Oh, and trying to turn my ceramic arts hobby into a thing where I don’t bleed money.

In other news, I was able to spend a decent amount of time outdoors after the Missouri storms. I hope to show that to you…Just as soon as I work up the energy to keep moving my body after yesterday’s hike. >_<

Why suicidal attacks are horrible, why we shouldn’t have to get used to them happening, and how to respond when they do.

I have to say something. London, I’m so sorry. France, je suis tellement désolé aussi. All you forgotten Middle Eastern countries, I don’t know where to begin with my condolences. Perhaps this may help. ~S

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When fighting someone with a blade, there are usually two kinds of opponents- the careful, measured fighter who avoids contact as much as possible and the impulsive, forceful fighter who pushes through an enemy’s defence to cause them harm.
The masters of historical swordmanship caution against both, advising a balance between ferocity and timidness when fighting. As a warrior, having mastery of swordsmanship means to overcome fear but still retain a sense of danger, and then having the skills to control it.

In my experience, it’s difficult to defend against a suicidal enemy, because they will fully commit their resources to an attack in a way that completely exposes themselves. It can come from cowardice, or insanity, or having no fear of the blade, and the ‘endless lives’ idea that lets a person fight a sports dual without worrying about the consequences of being struck. They have no fear of being damaged, so they attack with impunity.

Suicidal attacks are horrible for everyone except the attacker.

An attacker could have a knife, sword, small truck, or a national army- the weapon isn’t the point. It’s the attitude behind it.

Even a wise tactician can be overwhelmed by this, because the goals driving the two forces are set against each other- and through the mystery of martial arts, energy and power follows a person’s intention. The goal of 'suicidal attack’ is a much more powerful intent than the goal of simply surviving.

A suicidal attack is a chaotic release of destructive energy, intended to inflict the maximum damage on all parties including the attacker. Even a self-targeted suicide is difficult to prevent if the person is truly set on doing it, so preventing a mass-murder/suicide is even more so.

A person in the position of defending against such a thing has a much harder time than their opponent the attacker, since survival means avoiding injury, negotiating the environment, potentially protecting others and perhaps stopping the attacker. There are a lot of complex decisions to make in a very short time, whereas the attacker is simply focused on causing harm, with the end result of themselves being severely injured or killed.

Even if a person in such a terrible situation were martially-minded- that is, alert to danger around them and skilled in self-defence- an experience such as a strike against a group of people relaxing in a public place causes shock and panic, because it happens in an environment that we have been conditioned to consider restful and safe. Even a traumatised, constantly-vigilant and experienced warrior can be caught off guard in these circumstances.

In short, there isn’t much anyone can do to stop it from happening to them, without withdrawing from enjoying regular life. We cannot truly live with a suit of armour around our hearts.

The only thing to do if caught in such a situation is create distance from the threat, until it’s no longer a danger, or it can be stopped.

In a culture where civilians can carry sidearms, such as in much of history and especially the early Middle Ages, it would be much easier to extinguish the source of such a danger, but it also comes with the responsibility of killing another human and the stress of living close to constant warfare, which is outside of a lot of people’s experience today.

In our culture we are largely removed from deadly violence and high-adrenaline situations, and this is agoodthing. Whilst there are many individual city and country identities, we have a relatively-stable global society that has taken many thousands of years to achieve, built on mutual trust and hope in humanity.

Deadly violence is primal, predatory, and outside of reasoning. It’s either a strong individual or a weaker individual who will outlast the encounter, and this goes against all our notions of equality and fairness.

Unfortunately, a predator-prey relationship is not fair.

The only judge of its fairness is the result- one remains intact and healthy and the other, or sometimes both, do not.

It is very hard to adjust our minds from thinking like happy, civilised human beings living in peacetime on a planet where our kind control the environment and dominate the food chain, to looking at the world as though we could be prey once again. We spent so long working to lift ourselves out of those limitations that many people don’t even have vocabulary for such experiences.

However, if we want to survive such insanity as being attacked without cause or warning, then we must learn to consider it.

And we do, already. We fantasise about war and chaos and horror. It’s the endless the topic of our movies, books, video games and toys. We involve ourselves with it in a way that keeps us physically and  emotionally safe and one step removed, but to immerse our mind in it without also having the knowledge to survive (or prevent) such situations is pretty incomplete, bordering on irresponsible.

Doing this continuates the mythical idea that we will never be hurt or harmed, and that we deserve for our lives to be fair. 

Lifeis fair: it is given to everyone equally at the beginning. Once we have it, we need to protect it.

Once we can accept ourselves in that light, and truly understand the danger we might some day find ourselves in, we can begin to learn skills that make us more capable and less of a total victim to would-be predators or random disaster. This reduces the chance of us finding ourselves in situations where all we can do is run away and hope to survive.

Whilst I in no way condone violence or encourage people to become vigilantes, I feel it is our civic responsibility as global citizens to protect what peace we have.

In such terrible circumstances as terror attacks, the people who rise to the surface are going to respond the same way regardless of whether they have trained for it. A person who has leadership qualities will respond to threat and fear by engaging with it, and taking care of who and what is around them. They will calm others, not panic or exaggerate the facts or glorify the horror, and then take steps to return life to being as calm as possible, for the benefit of all.

Being courageous doesn’t mean you don’t feel the pain, it means you don’t let it stop you from living.

A terrible scenario can still occur whether or not there is a responsible, legalised civilian gun-carrier present, or an Aikido master to disable an assailant, or a well-trained, community-minded police officer to de-escalate a situation, or a trained first-aider there to staunch the blood.

Having more skills is always an advantage, especially when dealing with the unknown.

I am looking at this from the spectrum of swordsmanship, but there are many roads to personal leadership, and learning how to be strong in the face of danger. When we do this, we also learn how to overcome challenges in our own lives, master fear- fear of the other, fear of change, fear of all the things that lead to the rise of extremist anti-human rights movements. We become better people, and take care of our tribe and our environment in a way that promotes peace.

With enough people doing this, we will have the strong, brave and happier world of which we so dearly dream.

Thanks for listening.

I believe in you.

Aroha,

~S

Images: 1) A replica museum arming sword from the makers Albion.
2) Suit of armour from the Wallace Collection.
3) Young teenagers from Flint seeking to become leaders in spite of difficult circumstances, at the Hero Round Table, Michigan 2016.

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