This is my opinion: I enjoy training martial arts. They are great for exercise, and far more interesting to me than lifting weights or running on a treadmill at a gym or doing Peloton. I enjoy the camaraderie of the people I train with. I also feel that it is a good thing to have some combat skills because, while most of us will never, or at least very seldom, need to ever actually use them, it is still possible that we might need to take action in self defense. So I definitely train with combat use in mind.
However, I find fighting to be ugly and unpleasant and I have no desire to engage in it, or spectate, and I mostly feel that way about competition fighting as well. That is just how I feel, I understand many people feel differently about it.
So I train martial arts for exercise and for the mental stimulation and camaraderie and for self-defense purposes, but I have no interest in fighting and have gotten through 50 years of life so far without having to fight. That part is generally not terribly difficult.
So there it is. I hope this perspective helps you understand how others may feel about it.
Good post, and I'm sure representative of many people's motivations in being involved with MA. There are guys that love to get together for poker. Not because they like gambling, but for sharing some beers and snacks, swapping stories of their various (and likely imaginary) exploits, general camaraderie, maybe some group therapy, and getting out of the house. At the same time, they are learning odds, strategy and spotting tells.
I do not particularly like fighting, but I like learning and training how to fight. I
can fight, and do it pretty well, but I don't seek it out. Most plumbers probably don't care for cleaning out a toilet, but it's part of their job and they do it well. It comes with the territory.
Reminds me of a story (yes, I'm full of them). But this one was a movie,
Quigley Down Under, starring Tom Selleck as a rifle sharpshooter. In the end scene, the bad guy challenges him to a quick draw gunfight with a six shooter
pistol. As he lay dying in the dust, having been outdrawn by Selleck, he gasps, "I thought you didn't know pistols." (or something like that.) Selleck replies, "I said I didn't
care for them, never said I couldn't
use them."
Martial arts can teach a lot of things about one's self and life in general that have nothing directly related to fighting.
That said, it is the training for fighting, and indeed some actual fighting itself, that reveals many of these other equally valuable
lessons. So the pursuit of MA is the vehicle which can lead us to varied destinations, some of which we never anticipated. Oh, and also to be able to kick a** if needed.
