Martial Arts & the Bullying Epidemic

The bullying epidemic is as large as ever & receiving more attention & awareness than at any other time in our generation. Everyone from Talk show hosts, TV personalities, professionals & news anchors discuss & debate effective ways to combat this terrible & unfortunate reality. While their hearts are certainly in the right place I believe most of their efforts will be ineffective. I believe that the best way to diminish the likely hood of a child becoming the target of a bully (& most will at some point in their childhood) is to teach them self defense. I like to compare one’s ability to physically defend themselves to a home alarm system or car insurance. In either case, you feel a sense of security knowing they are there. You hope you will never have to use it but you are covered should an event arise.Too often I hear people say “Violence is not the answer”. Learning self defense through martial arts training has nothing to do with violence at all. In fact, statistics show that when a person knows how to defend themselves, they usually never have to. The reason is simply this: When you know how to defend yourself by physical means, you walk with confidence. Bullies sense that and look for a different target. Imagine this: You’re a bully who targets a kid on the playground. Right before you walk up to him/her, someone came up to you & said “Just so you know, that kid will fight back fiercely if you get physical with him”, would you go for it anyway? I think not! Bullies look for easy targets. People they “know” won’t stand up for themselves.The old adage says every one should know 5 important life skills: Reading, writing, arithmetic, swimming, & martial arts. Let’s look at the last 2 skills. When you break it down, swimming is self defense against water isn’t it? One day most people find themselves in water & if they can’t swim they can get hurt or worse. Well, martial arts is self defense on dry land & statistics prove that at 1 time or another you will find yourself in a situation where you need to “hold your ground”. That doesn’t mean to fight or be violent but simply have the confidence to look a bully square in the eyes & let them know he’s chosen the wrong target. The only real way to do that is to know you have the physical skills to back it up. You can “bluff” confidence only so far as somewhere in the back of your head lies a fear, big or small that if the bully calls it you may be in trouble! The bottom line is that everyone should know how to defend themselves. You wouldn’t send your child out into the middle of the ocean on a raft if he didn’t know how to swim. So why would you send them out into the world without self defense skills? It’s a jungle out there & predators are lurking!