I had even gotten private e-mail that suggested that perhaps he made critical errors. My immediate response (until I could collect myself both emotionally and mentally) was <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quoteif he just would not...play a karate hero, he might have come out of the incident without those holes in his stomach but just for a price of a couple of bucks.
I was not there. You were not there. Any comments now are both ill-informed and in poor taste. I am a human being first and karateka second.
Later, Van Canna debriefed Clarence, and spoke from a position of both authority on the subject and knowledge of the circumstances. Please view his forum for comments (can't figure out the url address here). And Mr. Canna would not hear any "Monday night quarterbacking" and second-guessing when it came to his friend. One day I hope to find out that I have such friends!
O.K., those who would may now speak your peace.
There's a time to honor in silence, and a time to speak your thoughts
Now that we know that Clarence is well on his way to recovery, I have a few comments to add. In his book The gift of fear - survival signals that protect us from violence, De Becker writes <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote
Thank you, Mr. De Becker, that is exactly what I meant in my very few words.Though I am often asked for advice on how a person should respond to a robber or car-jacker, for example, I cannot offer a checklist of what to do for each type of hazard you could encounter, because cookie-cutter approaches are dangerous. Some people say about rape, for example, do not resist, while othes say always resist. Neither strategy is right for all situations, but one strategy is: Listen to your intuition. I don't know what might be best for you in some hazardous situation because I don't have all the information, but you will have all the information.
The reason any of us are here is because for millions of years we survived one traumatic situation after the next, generation after generation. The gene pool that survived has all the skills it needs to survive. The biggest problem people get into is that they ignore instinct, intuition, gut feeling, etc. We rationalize and make excuses and otherwise stymie what a baser person inside tells us to do...because we think our logical side knows better. Funny, for years I used to think little of my wife's constant reminder that she had better intuition and knew people better. She went on her gut feelings and acted on them. De Becker's book speaks highly of this thought process, and is an attempt to bring people back in touch with the skills already within us. It is no surprise to me now that my wife was part of a rapid-action rape counseling team for years. She understood. I rationalized. I now know better. And it's no mystery to me now that none of my fiesty, intutitve sisters nor my wife ever found themselves in situations that others seemed to constantly face.
So....when I see the following <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote
do you know what that tells me? It tells me that survival animal within told him death was imminent. And it told him that it was time to act. And Clarence listened.Clarence decided that he was not going to let the young man 'take him out' without a fight.
We can argue from here to eternity about whether or not he should have attacked, whether he acted at the right time (before he got to the second crime scene), whether he did the right technique (I didn't hear anything about him wetting his pants) and whether the level of skill was worthy of the situation. But we do know one thing - Clarence survived.
I'm willing to bet that given the same scenario, most would be dead - regardless of choice of action/inaction.
O.K., soap box is open.
-- Bill
[This message has been edited by Bill Glasheen (edited 05-06-99).]