10 Truths about self defense

If you are NOT a cop, a soldier or a security professional and you get into a fight for any reason other than to defend your life or a loved one's from IMMINENT danger when you could have walked or run away, YOU are the problem (and a complete ass).

1 • Fighting to defend your "honor" from verbal assault makes you a criminal in the eye's of the law. Prepare to defend your honor in prison. The family that depends on you will really appreciate it.

2 • Learning self-defense to make you a "master street fighter," "dueler of death" or just a "bad-ass mo-fo" makes you a jerk.

3 • In the eyes of the law, unless you felt "you were going to die," you're as much a criminal as your attacker.

4 • If you use a knife on your attacker, in most states in the U.S. you are already a criminal.

5 • A knife in the hands of your attacker makes him an instant 50th degree Black Belt. Despite all the martial arts mythology and movie-making, there is no completely effective defense against a knife. You can improve your odds slightly but remember, unlike on TV, there's a million ways you can be hacked up with a knife.

6 • In real life, practically no one will ever attack you the way it's demonstrated in 99% of martial art schools.

7 • If you have to save your life, you'd better not grapple your attacker or engage in any other kind of sport-based nonsense. Every additional second you are connected to your attacker you are closer to dying...or becoming a criminal yourself.

8 • If you make the mistake of "fighting" some guy, you can be sure you'll be "fighting" his buddies also. Prepare to be stomped to death. Every additional second you "fight" exposes you to more assailants and potential weapons that you will not survive no matter how "badass" you think you are.

9 • If in the process of fighting your way free you maim or kill your attacker, you will have to live with that the rest of your life. This can potentially create in the prison of your mind a worse hell than anything you may face for real. PTSD is real and some of the toughest cops and soldiers suffer from it. It had better have been worth it. It helps if you've adopted a philosophy of avoiding violence as opposed to macho-posturing. Then, when you have to turn it loose...you really will. There'll be no moral ambiguity (but even then, don't expect the law to see it that way).

10 • Educate yourself about your rights as a victim, the law's view of "appropriate uses of force," and the ramifications of ignoring them.

Avoid all fights at all costs. Escape is always the #1 priority. Fight only if you think you're going to be killed that second. Not threatened or insulted. Then escape.