I remember one time I got jumped.
Come to find out later, these were some bad muthafuckas.
There was no where for me to go, so I just said fornicate it, and started throwing blows.
This effectively saved my life, fighting them off, bobbing and weaving,
but you fight the way you train.
I hadn't developed that "killer instinct."
So I didn't knock anyone out.
After analyzing the entire event, I realized that I had taught myself how to fight "slap boxing" style.
Sure, it was effective on the street, stopped me from getting my ass whooped,
but I didn't finish the job!
For the situation you describe, it sounds like you did what you needed to do. It serves no one to seriously hurt someone if it's not necessary, and you kept yourself from getting hurt. The "killer instinct" serves well when it's necessary, but in a situation like this, where something much more tame will suffice, it could hurt you. You might "win" the fight by hospitalizing or even killing one or more of your attackers, but aside from the psychological toll that killing someone takes on a person (according to many people - I thankfully can't draw on experiences in this area), using excessive force can land you in jail for defending yourself, especially as someone with martial arts training (it's a lot harder to argue that you accidentally seriously hurt someone when the prosecution points out that you've got formal training in how to hurt people).
Having said that, I'd rather overreact than underreact, but the less force you can use and still walk away unhurt, the better.Statistics: Posted by kungfujoe — December 23rd, 2006, 3:37 pm
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