Aloha:
I usually recommend that my students spend some time watching "Trauma: Life in the ER" on the Learning Channel (along with other surgery-related programs). This does two things:
(1) Since a lot of emergency-room injuries are knife-related, you get to see exactly what kind of damage a knife can do. This reinforces what Burton always teaches about knife fights: "If you see a knife, RUN!"
(2) You desensitize yourself to blood and gore so that if you are placed in a situation in which it is legally and morally permissible to use lethal force, you won't freeze up at the thought of using a knife (or puke your guts out at the first sight of blood).
I personally carry a knife everywhere I am legally allowed to do so. I hope to never be in a knife fight, but I can certainly conceive of a situation in which such an equalizer might be necessary. As an ethicist, I teach my students not only how to use a knife, but also when it is morally appropriate to do so. This way, they can feel confident about their training without feeling as if they've been turned into psycho-killers.
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We cannot live better than in seeking to become better.
-Socrates
Last edited by Jim McRae; 08-20-2003 at 10:31 PM.
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