Life is a Battle...

Over the last few days I'm been getting some interesting private messages through Facebook and even a few emails. The interesting thing is that people want to know why I'm hated so much, by so many people... The truth is because I'm doing what they won't or can't. Make no mistake, everything I've done I have done because of God's grace. I am not a perfect Christian, I don't even think I'm a good Christian at times. But everything I have done I either owe to my own efforts or to God's grace. If that sounds like a humility, it is... I am humble before few men and always to God.

If funny when you see cowards talk about suing them, knowing they can delay and lie and drag out the suit and even if the court rules against them, they will not honor obligations put worth by the court. Which means another law suit... wasting money and time on people who are hundreds of miles away and scared of me. Personally, I'd just rather drive to their schools (I like road trips) and beat their asses into bloody pulp before their students' eyes. Life is a battle filled with cowards and crooks, people who are generally tough guys.

The simple fact is I've endured things many others won't or can't, and it is by God's Grace more then my own Mental Strength that I did this... I grew up around violence, drugs and fighting. I'm related to and have associated with "criminals." My grandfather make Moonshine during the prohibition to feed and cloth his family. So I don't much care about the "thug selling dope" as I do about the robbers, rapists and thieves. The honest problem with "drug dealers" is drug dealers who sell to kids and drug dealers who are themselves kids (mentally & literally which includes mentally). These are the "drug dealers" who are likely to shoot you and stab because they are afraid and don't respect life, this produces an problem but it is a totally different matter to be discussed.

I favor self-defense training, I have a great deal of experience at things I can't talk about online (and won't) because it involves self-incrimination. That is why I often point to other directs (lie about) where I learned somethings at or experienced some stuff. Its funny because I approach the martial arts from the side of what is effective. I once witnessed a U.S. soldier tell a KATUSA he could "whip his ass" because he "knew Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (through MACP) and Tae Kwon Do sucked." That same KATUSA kicked him in the thigh, groin and head without dropping or putting down his beer and was out the bar before the MPs entered. I've watched Anthony Cummins talk about martial arts being effective and its clear he's never been in a fight in his life... Hell I once got into a pissing contest with another soldier who was a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do compared to my Shodan in Shotokan. I've found many martial arts share similar techniques but are effectively useless when it comes to methods for training these methods...

It is literally amusing to me that any style that was used by "warriors" (in all the varied names) would be allow 10th and 15th Dan grandmasters who can't do more then 30 push-ups at a time. So I have to state a certain amount of respect for styles like Judo and Kick Boxing that encourage competition to teach timing, distance, accuracy and balance compared to styles that rely on nothing but forms and kata (Jujitsu definition as opposed to Katate).

At the end of the day, what you train in should reflect your idea of a threat. Criminals live in a culture where violence is a social norm and social violence (simulated combat) can easily turn into real combat. So the idea that your opponent will be "untrained" is a joke. The reality is even if you find a "self-trained" fighter they will have more experience with criminal activities (i.e. beating up people and other members of that culture) then the many "Martial Artists" who hide behind lineage or another's accomplishments.

If you've paid any attention to the news, you'd know we are closer to a Civil War 2.0 and would know that we face a threat bigger then ever as we face threats from Terrorists and the government. Ultimately you need to decide what works for you and what teaches you to defend yourself effectively. Timing on a painful but not lethal compared to lethal techniques alone. A person who decides to use a "lethal technique" compared to someone with the ability to deliver a lethal technique with no conscious thought to distance and timing is simply this... Both are handicapped by the lack of ability to use the "lethal technique" due to not having applied it in combat or competition but both both are then reliant on the distance and timing of training. The person with more experience at application of strikes and the use of grappling in "non-lethal" application develop the other qualities to deliver those "lethal strikes."

Consider that how we are trained (even raised if you will since that is a form of training) sets the pace for how you will react. If you aren't trained to react to conditions outside your training how will you react at all? Life is a battlefield  and how you train is how you will face life...