Now and then, the importance of mind-set, of the willingness to stand and deliver when attacked comes up, and I'm generally quick to offer that enough attitude can offset a great deal, including fighting skill.So while I was talking to somebody about this, I wondered about some of the stories I've heard lately about unlikely resistance -- little old deaf grannies and all like that. So I thought I'd check it out.
Now, we aren't talking about victories, necessarily, in the sense that the mugger gets his ass whipped and granny escapes unscathed; more often than not, Granny gets roughed up or cut or otherwise damaged, but she does manage to survive.
So I googled it thus: "Granny fights off mugger." And came up with 7420 hits.
When I changed that to "Woman fights off mugger," the number of hits was 220,000.
Attitude. It matters.
My grandmother is 95, and is not 100% (to say the least) present at all times. She's living in a home and sort of knows where & when she is about half the time.
ReplyDeleteLast week she was getting changed by a nurse she didn't remember when she went from 'not present' to 'present'.She managed to grab a wastebasket and brain the nurse. She's got attitude in spades.
One of the things I like about some of the internal styles is that they have techniques meant to channel your attitudes.
ReplyDeleteMeaning that the Fire techniques work best when you let your aggresiveness flow, while the Water techniques take advantage of any defensive/avoidance feelings you might be having.
When my father was 70 years old, two young punks tried to mug him.
ReplyDeleteYou know how this story ends, right?
He knocked one out, got the other in a headlock and pounded him in the face until the police arrived. The guy he knocked out started to stir before the police got there, so my dad stomped on his hand and broke it, and then stood on the hand to keep him there.
Attitude's not everything, but it's big. That goes both ways -- I used to fight people for no particular reason, because I wanted to. Got into my late 20s and got to where I wanted to avoid fights, if I could -- haven't had to hit anyone in 18 years.