Brewer...poignant post.
It won't let me rep you again, but just know that there is so much wisdom and candid, horrifying truth in what you say that it chills me to the bone.
In martial arts circles, there is always one or two clowns in a class that will start either joking around when they're doing knife work or will make light of what they are learning.
Quite frankly...that mentality scares the shit out of me.
When I train knife, I take it VERY seriously, and I try to consider the consequences of my actions and the effects of the knife (not only physically, but psychologically for myself, and also for the grief and gravity of the action upon the other person's family and friends). Joking around with a training knife seems sick to me.
I think it should be necessary in teaching the knife to step in when students do that and tell the people- "you are dead, you just bled out. you will never see your family again, you will never hold your child, everything is over for you." and conversely, "you just took another human being's life away. (reiterate the consequences) You will have to live every day with the consequences of this decision, especially if you end up going to prison for it." Make sure to elaborate that these things, these constructs such as death, killing, prison, and forever have little meaning until they are felt first hand.
I think the lesson I'd take from Little Apple's friend is- when do you just take a beating as opposed to escalating to the point where somebody is likely to lose their life or be maimed (one way or the other) for life?
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