El Luchador,
Hola, y que tal? Espero que estas bien. This question spins both ways doesn`t it, are you prepared to pay the consequences of not using your knife on someone when your life hangs in the balance between hesitation and moving forward to defend life and limb at what ever the cost? Que piensas tu?
I would rather be alive serving time than dead serving the ego and ill-will of my supposed attacker. Should you not do enough and you go down in combat it will be up to your attacker whether you will live or die. He will choose to be merciful or he will choose to be brutal but make no mistake about it the decision will be his and his alone to make. None of us should allow our fate to be placed in this unwanted arena of combat, and as long as I have a voice in the matter I will choose life over death at what ever the cost (when speaking of my own life). If you pull a knife on me in anger be prepared to use it or die, it really is this simple with me. If you don`t pull a weapon on me one will not be pulled in my defense as the escalation of force does not recognize this action under those circumstances. But once a weapon is pulled and my life is threatened nothing will keep me from slamming my knife through your head if it will allow me to live for one more day. I as any creature of opportunity will take a life when certain circumstances and opportunities are presented all for the sake of self preservation.
There are no grey areas of combat with me, either you will live or you will die. Self preservation is my highest priority in life, only second to this would be to deal with the consequences of my actions, both physically and mentaly. I can relate to both sides of this situation as I have been stabbed and cut in the past and have done so in turn while encountering past situations. Emmotions run high on either side of this predictament but the fact that I am alive today is justification enough for my previous actions, and my desire to live on future actions.
Reality and experience are our greatest teachers in combat as well as in life. You can fool others but don`t fool yourself. I have in the past used knives / machetes to ensure my survival and would again in the future should the situation and circumstances dictate it so. In knowing this I am well aware of what my capabilities are and if I want to steer clear of the laws I will choose not to carry knowing well what my response may be when threatened. But at the same time I am addicted to oxygen and living life as I know it so I always carry an equalizer on my person which will give me leverage should my life be called upon in some unforeseen event which may befall my person someday.
As I have stated above to carry or not to carry is an individual preference. I for one suggest that you train to kill, condition to kill and most important be able to kill should this decision be forced upon you some day in protecting life and limb. If you can`t do this it is alright but come to terms with this before you are forced to do something that you may not be able to live with. It`s great to train and the confidence that it will instill in your being can be intoxicating. This is all well and good but let us not forget the reason that we train (survival). I hope that you will never have to fight to preserve the the lives of you or your families but some unfortunate souls will and the way that they train and what percentage of reality that they allow to reflect on their training habits will determine the outcome. Their mindset will dictate how life will be in the aftermath of the situation in dealing with the consequences of their actions or inactions...
To clear things up I am not advocating that you go out and get involved in a street fight where some young punk calls you "Mamon" and it hurts your feelings so you decide to bust out your blade and separate his head from his shoulders. I am speaking of those situations which will require a life to be taken only to allow another to carry on. The taking of a life should never be an easy thing to accept but when your own life hangs in the balance it becomes necessary and we train to respond with adequate force. I hope that this helps, Ciao
Guro Dave Gould.
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