The Lesson

I learned a lesson the other night. I first learned of this lesson reading the book by Marc MacYoung, In the Name of Self-defense. It comes with the understanding you get from his stuff. You learn about violence and self-defense and you also learn that when your become involved in violence and self-defense others will take a different view of you even if you are immediate family or close friend. 

As an offshoot you will find that your new found knowledge will garner more aggressive responses from those caught up in the ill informed scripts folks take on violence. Mr. MacYoung explains his perspective on this issue as well and I believe his explanation trumps anything I can add here.

Here is the rub, a discussion came about due to some article read in a news source. In a nutshell it prompted a comment from a close friend, “If an intruder enters my house I am going to shoot him dead.” You can probably imagine that since I read the book that a lot of thoughts jumped into my head of which the “level of force” used in his example, without other qualifications, might be perceived as not self-defense and possibly murder. 

I mentioned that I believe that his use of force might not be acceptable in this instance without those additional qualifications he immediately and vehemently countered that the law gave him the right to shoot an intruder into his home. Considering his quick and emotional retort I once again ran through some thoughts that came from reading the book and I quickly shut my mouth, nodded knowingly and changed the subject. I would guess that his Monkey jumped the driver and took over the emotional train ride toward that belief. 

I then realized that unless a person is predisposed to such topics that regardless of whether or not I have it right or factual their beliefs will override their common sense and the monkey will assume the control taking them on a wild ride confirming their belief regardless. It drives home the fact that no matter how informed and knowledgeable and especially if there is any real experience involved that most people do not want to hear about it - ever.

Now, as an exercise, lets take that a bit further, “What if later this week some young intruder breaks in late at night thinking no one is home and my friend pulls out his pistol and as the intruder starts up the stairs he shots him dead.” Say, that this is perceived by police as out of the self-defense box and starts to process him for the prosecutor. Would my friend then be open to suggestions as to finding a good attorney, one who has experience or at least will listen to what Mr. MacYoung presents in his book to build a good defense? Not sure, to many factors but I suspect that he would not want that advice and would simply seek out an attorney and jump on the band wagon that he had the right to protect himself, his wife and his property. Would this be true and would it pan out as the process of the legal system went forward? Again, don’t know, not sure but for me it is about “taking those chances.”

Here is the lucky part for him and most people like him. The probability of being in that situation are remote at best and very unlikely at least. I believe this is how me and people like him go so many decades without incident and even now, as more knowledgable as I am now from reading and studying the book, etc., I would not encounter a situation like this and am confident that if I did I would be able to act accordingly, i.e. intruder entering house at one end, me and wife exiting house at other while dialing 911 on our cells that sit by our bed. I hope so anyway. 

So, lesson leaned, keep your mouth shut and test the waters before providing such information in such a discussion. Another reason is twice now my wife has asked me, “How do you know this stuff? and Why do you know this stuff?” Lucky me, my answer so far has worked, I am in martial arts and these things come up for self-defense training. She nods and says, Oh, ok. I think maybe keeping my mouth shut more often is more conducive to a peaceful and pleasant relationship with wife and friends, you think?

Bibliography:

MacYoung, Marc. “In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It.” Marc MacYoung. 2014.