What Can Go Wrong In A Conflict? Katherine Loukopoulos

from Lift Hands Magazine Volume 15 September 2020 - The Multi-Award Winning Magazine of the Year 2019

Peasant Talk

Synonyms for ‘War’:

Noun

A state of armed conflict between different countries or different groups within a country A sustained campaign against an undesirable situation or activity Conflict arising from a lack of agreement or harmony Belligerence A dispute or argument, typically one that is long and complicated Resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument

Verb

To engage in a war To put an end to To protect or shield from harm or danger

Source: https://www.wordhippo.com

All the martial arts including fencing and wrestling, give us an opportunity to train and to prepare ourselves for conflict. In almost every lesson we test our abilities and we focus to surpass them. Furthermore, we participate in tournaments where safety is ensured and winners of the day are declared. A combination of dojo sparring and tournament fighting can develop in us a sense of false confidence.

The danger of developing false sense of confidence is the nature of beast. Training halls and tournaments with rules for safety are not real engagements. They can provide us with a sample of anxiety, fear, and the will to survive; that is, the will to win the match with our opponent, but again, this is not for ‘real’.

When we have lost a tournament our egos are bruised but our life is intact. When we make mistakes against our opponent while training, there are no problems because we can repeat the techniques again and again.

When we are faced with real danger in a dark street alley, when an intruder brakes into our home or place of work, when we are faced with thugs for whatever reason and we cannot avoid but engage in order to save our life and the lives of our loved ones, the engagement is real. There is no time to warm up our muscles, and there is no room for mistakes.

USMC Camp Lester PT 1985

What can go wrong in the worse moment possible?

1. Over-estimating or underestimating the intruder and the situation! 2. Lack of adequate training and preparation. 3. Lack of speed due to lack of training and/or nervousness. 4. Mistakes in judgment on distance between attacker and ourselves. 5. Not enough strength to execute the defense. 6. We are not aware of our surroundings. 7. We are injured and the attacker is aware where we hurt. 8. Our emotions are not in check. 9. We are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. 10. We were overtaken by the element of the surprised attack. 11. Although we try to make a move we have ‘frozen’ in place. 12. Not aware where our feet are planted in relation to the adversary. 13. Overtaken by fear and can’t think. 14. Our face is an open target, and we are also out of balance. 15. Not thinking smart about our personal safety. 16. We are overpowered by the number of attackers. 17. We are overpowered because the attackers have weapons. 18. We lack the ability to adapt to the emergency situation. 19. Our own ‘weapon’ breaks. 20. We have no more stamina and we give up.

The person who overcomes and most likely succeeds in a real life threatening attack is a person who is physically fit, alert but not paranoid, knows of his environment and his surroundings, does not take short cuts through dark alleys, lonely parks and parking lots, has patience, is modest, is low key and does not use threatening body language, words or tone of voice.

We are not cowards by running away from a life threatening situation. We are preventing physical damage, becoming emotionally rattled, filing Police Reports and visiting hospital emergencies… all this can be avoided by simply ‘walking or running away’. Smart thinking gives us an opportunity to live another day.

Katherine Loukopoulos Bubishi Team Austria 22 September 2020