21

The other day I watched the movie 21. A film about a really smart kid who learned to beat the game of Blackjack with a team of other smart people. There were a few things that grabbed my attention when it comes to self-defense. For instance when the security guys wanted to beat the tar out of someone for "cheating the casino" they always took them to a secluded garage. Second rule in Fight Like A Girl! is go to people or stay with people - don't go somewhere secluded - that's the worse thing that can happen. Do whatever you can to stay with people or get official help. That can be anything from faking an illness, screaming fire, or starting a fight with someone else (yes its extreme) - BUT YOU CANNOT GO WITH THE BAD GUYS!

The other thing that leaped out at me was the 2nd plot on the smart kid needing to have a "dazzling life experience" that would wow the scholarship director at Harvard to give our hero a scholarship to Harvard Med School. You wanna know what the most powerful words are in a self-defense scenario when someone is trying to rape or kill you and you are fighting for your life?

Those words are; "I've done this before, I can do it again". Having the life experience of having done realistic self-defense training is what is going to make the difference. Because if you have had the experience, then you have at least practiced it several times, you've done it with the added stress of a realistic attacker, and your muscles have a memory from doing it before. Hence, experience yields knowledge. As Brad Parker so succinctly puts it; "Empowerment comes from knowledge. But panic begins where knowledge ends."

Stay Safe!