Clarity

I am still reeling over the mass murder of those little school kids in Connecticut this past week.  I am going to attempt to convey my own thoughts on some important points this whole situation brings up as it pertains to our budo training.  The reality behind it all is that no matter how we train, how we prepare emergency plans, upgrade our technology and take every other precaution, if someone has the deep desire to kill innocent people and they are willing to act on it, they will find a way to do it.

In looking at the subject of these random murders, I am left with many questions regarding our own budo path and how we each can impact these situations.  Aside from the usual answers about what techniques one would deploy, or whether we should be carrying firearms or any other weapons, or any other obvious conclusion, I am more interested into the reality of the situation as it could unfold in front of us.

Suppose you were out with your family, let's say a mall.  You see someone getting out of their car and walking towards a rear mall entrance.  They are dressed in black fatigue pants and wearing a black trench coat.  They have a black duffel bag and appear to be holding something inside their coat.  What do you do?  Would you even notice amongst all the other people coming and going?

I like to think that our training enables us to have a bit more awareness than the average person, especially in noticing things that maybe just aren't "right".  But, noticing is one thing.  Making the choice to actually do something isn't so hard, either.  The problem comes in choosing exactly what to do.  How do you know this person is actually a danger?  What proof have you seen to tell you that?

Would you call 911 on someone just because they look suspicious to you?  Of course, seeing a weapon would be an easy sign.  But, what if you couldn't see any weapons and you were only making an assumption?  Would you honestly take any sort of action?

Alternatively, are you more likely to wait until you actually see the threat?  How long do you think it takes to call 911, get a response and have law enforcement on scene to engage the threat?  How many shots could a killer take during that time?  How many innocent victims will be killed every minute until help arrives and is able to stop the killer?



I like to think that some of us in the buyu community might have some effect on reducing the damage.  But, even one life lost to a murderer is one too many.  We also have our own family who may be with us.  Do we then find ourselves in the position of hunkering down, maybe with our loved ones, maybe with strangers, while another innocent person is murdered right in front of us?

Feel helpless?



As I look at photos of those murderers who have recently committed these mass shootings, I notice some common traits.  They all seem to have a sense that the world is coming to an end, or that they are at war with society.  They disconnected themselves, checked out, from the rest of society, even their own family and friends.  They idolize symbols of power and choose the most violent methods to make their statement.  They almost all choose a course that will eventually end in their death, but most often they take their own lives.  They almost all wear military style clothing and use firearms, with the exception of the mass attack at a Chinese elementary school by a crazed knife wielding sicko.

So, put yourself in the victim's place.  What if you were there, shots firing into scared people, mass chaos all around, people trampling each other to escape, deafening blasts of shot after shot filling the room or wherever you are.  What do you do?  How would you react?  Could you actually DO anything to stop him or them from killing another?

Or are you as helpless as the next guy.

My thought is that this is a collective solution, that we as a society need to take responsibility to look out for each other.  We need to escape this bubble of presumed immunity that has permeated so much of our culture.  We need to accept that there are people in this world, some who live right in our own towns, who fantasize about doing this sort of mass murder.  There are those on their way to getting there in their heads.  They disassociate themselves from society, from their peers and family, and begin to talk or write about how bad life is becoming, how futile and apocalyptic things are.



There could be someone you know who is in this downward spiral.  It may be a friend or family member.  How low does this person need to be before you take notice?  How low do they need to be before you take action?  It could be as simple as a phone call to find out.

All these people who committed these acts of terror were somebody's friend or relative.  Before turning into the sociopathic killer they became, these people were the kids next door, the kids in your class, the kids playing ball in the street, the kids in your church, etc.  They were the guys who work with you, sit in the next cubicle, drive the deliveries to your houses and businesses, etc.  In essence, they were, for the most part, regular people.  But, something snapped somewhere along the way and they began a dark journey inward, which eventually led to murder.



As budoka, we train in methods to protect life.  Do we have to wait until the attack in order to be protectors of life?  Maybe by having the sensitivity to 'know' when someone is headed down that dark, terrible road, we can influence or bring resources in to save the person before they become killers.  Not only would be be saving the lives of countless victims, but we'd be saving the life of the person before they become a killer.



That, to me, sounds like being a true life-protector.