It's been awhile since I've gone on a rant about self-defense, so I thought it time again. Particularly with recent events due to Hurricane Harvey.
Self-defense. It's a term that describes itself pretty well. Defense of self. Meaning, self-preservation. Remaining alive and hopefully functioning well. Anything that has to do with that issue is self-defense. It's pretty easy to grasp that concept, I think.
And yet, people who claim to be all about self-defense don't seem to know, or care, to take any action designed to defend themselves (and their family, loved ones, etc) if it doesn't involve A) guns, B) knives, or C) martial arts. Oh, there are the folks known as 'preppers' who sometimes take an interest in that sort of thing, but often enough, most of what they engage in is fantasy end-of-the-world stuff, not actual threats to our existence and well-being.
Do you have a fire extinguisher?
Do you know how to evacuate your home, have you practiced it? The whole family? Have you given assignments to family members, who gets the baby, who gets the cat, who gets the photo albums? When to abandon attempts to protect non-living or non-human things and just skedaddle? How about a rally point, where all the human occupants can meet up, so that no one mistakenly goes back into a flooded or burning house to retrieve someone who is actually safe, but standing somewhere else?
For those interested in more long-range things - do you have a way to quickly replace ID, credit cards, access your bank accounts that is NOT in your house that just flooded or burned down? Do you even have your account numbers, PIN numbers, phone numbers to call to begin that process?
How about a Will, Living or otherwise? Durable power of attorney on file with your attorney, mailed to relatives who don't live near you, etc? DNR's or other requirements that you'd like honored?
How about your medications? If you wear glasses or contacts, how about spares?
Can you treat a wound? Can you find a doctor in an emergency? Do you have access to antibiotics? Can you make clean water when tap water becomes contaminated?
How about clean socks? Good boots? Another pair of good boots? More clean socks?
Do you have general as well as specific plans? "If the whole city floods, we will leave as early as possible and travel by car to X location, where we already have spoken to our relatives and they will put us up if need by, and we'll do the same for them." When the roads make driving impassible, do you have a backup plan?
Can you spot bad weather coming by cloud formations and other natural signs? Ever take a weather spotting class offered free by the federal government? Do you listen to radio and TV warnings and pay attention to them and take them seriously? Seems an awful lot of people don't. They all seem to want to wait until the threat is clear and present and THEN take action, when it is of course too late oftentimes.
How about insurance? If you own your home, did you know that your homeowner's insurance (in the USA) typically does NOT cover backed-up sewer line flooding unless you specifically request it and pay a very small yearly fee? Same for floods; the government sells national flood insurance, but fewer than 20% of residents in Houston have it. Do you have it? Oh, you live outside a 100 year flood plain? Well good luck with that, sport. So did many Houstonians.
I'm not overly worried about a nuclear attack on our nation. I am worried about tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters which I can do something to prepare for.
People tell me how many martial arts they train in, how far they can run, how much they can bench press. They tell me how good a shot they are at the range, how many guns they own, and what great one-shot stops their favorite caliber-du-jours are. Their rifles are festooned with instruments which point lasers and light up perps straight through lead walls and penetrating rounds and they can bring justice like they had wings and a halo; but they don't own a fire extinguisher, and have no idea how to actually use one if they had it. They can submit anyone in the world not named 'Gracie' but they can't put out a grease fire in their kitchen or have a spare pair of spectacles when they break theirs or lose them in a flood. They tell me about their garage and basement full of MREs, but they can't start a fire on their own, can't read a topographical map or compass, and have never spent a night in the woods that wasn't in a 30 foot camper.
So I'm just saying - if you're honestly interested in self-defense, it's time to spend some time playing reality games and evaluating risk and doing what you can to address it. Martial arts training is good. Weapons training is good. Having some non-perishable food stored is good. Playing fantasy games about how you're going to Rambo through TEOTWAWKI is not good. Or at least, not going to happen. You'll be the guy whose stuff we take because you didn't survive the natural disaster that turned out to be a boring old flood or tornado or earthquake or mudslide instead of something exciting like Chinese FEMA death camp troops wandering the streets for you to pick off with your high-powered laser-guided whatever it is.
Self-defense. It's a term that describes itself pretty well. Defense of self. Meaning, self-preservation. Remaining alive and hopefully functioning well. Anything that has to do with that issue is self-defense. It's pretty easy to grasp that concept, I think.
And yet, people who claim to be all about self-defense don't seem to know, or care, to take any action designed to defend themselves (and their family, loved ones, etc) if it doesn't involve A) guns, B) knives, or C) martial arts. Oh, there are the folks known as 'preppers' who sometimes take an interest in that sort of thing, but often enough, most of what they engage in is fantasy end-of-the-world stuff, not actual threats to our existence and well-being.
Do you have a fire extinguisher?
Do you know how to evacuate your home, have you practiced it? The whole family? Have you given assignments to family members, who gets the baby, who gets the cat, who gets the photo albums? When to abandon attempts to protect non-living or non-human things and just skedaddle? How about a rally point, where all the human occupants can meet up, so that no one mistakenly goes back into a flooded or burning house to retrieve someone who is actually safe, but standing somewhere else?
For those interested in more long-range things - do you have a way to quickly replace ID, credit cards, access your bank accounts that is NOT in your house that just flooded or burned down? Do you even have your account numbers, PIN numbers, phone numbers to call to begin that process?
How about a Will, Living or otherwise? Durable power of attorney on file with your attorney, mailed to relatives who don't live near you, etc? DNR's or other requirements that you'd like honored?
How about your medications? If you wear glasses or contacts, how about spares?
Can you treat a wound? Can you find a doctor in an emergency? Do you have access to antibiotics? Can you make clean water when tap water becomes contaminated?
How about clean socks? Good boots? Another pair of good boots? More clean socks?
Do you have general as well as specific plans? "If the whole city floods, we will leave as early as possible and travel by car to X location, where we already have spoken to our relatives and they will put us up if need by, and we'll do the same for them." When the roads make driving impassible, do you have a backup plan?
Can you spot bad weather coming by cloud formations and other natural signs? Ever take a weather spotting class offered free by the federal government? Do you listen to radio and TV warnings and pay attention to them and take them seriously? Seems an awful lot of people don't. They all seem to want to wait until the threat is clear and present and THEN take action, when it is of course too late oftentimes.
How about insurance? If you own your home, did you know that your homeowner's insurance (in the USA) typically does NOT cover backed-up sewer line flooding unless you specifically request it and pay a very small yearly fee? Same for floods; the government sells national flood insurance, but fewer than 20% of residents in Houston have it. Do you have it? Oh, you live outside a 100 year flood plain? Well good luck with that, sport. So did many Houstonians.
I'm not overly worried about a nuclear attack on our nation. I am worried about tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters which I can do something to prepare for.
People tell me how many martial arts they train in, how far they can run, how much they can bench press. They tell me how good a shot they are at the range, how many guns they own, and what great one-shot stops their favorite caliber-du-jours are. Their rifles are festooned with instruments which point lasers and light up perps straight through lead walls and penetrating rounds and they can bring justice like they had wings and a halo; but they don't own a fire extinguisher, and have no idea how to actually use one if they had it. They can submit anyone in the world not named 'Gracie' but they can't put out a grease fire in their kitchen or have a spare pair of spectacles when they break theirs or lose them in a flood. They tell me about their garage and basement full of MREs, but they can't start a fire on their own, can't read a topographical map or compass, and have never spent a night in the woods that wasn't in a 30 foot camper.
So I'm just saying - if you're honestly interested in self-defense, it's time to spend some time playing reality games and evaluating risk and doing what you can to address it. Martial arts training is good. Weapons training is good. Having some non-perishable food stored is good. Playing fantasy games about how you're going to Rambo through TEOTWAWKI is not good. Or at least, not going to happen. You'll be the guy whose stuff we take because you didn't survive the natural disaster that turned out to be a boring old flood or tornado or earthquake or mudslide instead of something exciting like Chinese FEMA death camp troops wandering the streets for you to pick off with your high-powered laser-guided whatever it is.
