Aikido´s philosophy and you

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[Trevize]

Hello =)

I was just wandering- when you get into some "troubles"- are you following aikido´s phylosophy and the path of peace? For example, you
are in pub ( :) ) and someone wants to fight with you because he is drunk or whatever... What would you do? Would you say:" OK, you and me, let´s go!" or "Peace man, there is no need to get exited, come, I´ll buy you some drink." ?
I know most of you are experienced aikidokas so I guess you´d choose
the second choice, but would you choose the second choice when you were younger too? :) Have you always been on the path of peace?

Maybe I am naive but I just want to know... :)

Hope you understand what I mean.

Thank you for your time.

Peace and love

[Kevin Leavitt]

Nah, I used to get into stupid fights when I was younger. However after studying martial arts, I found that urge pretty much went away. Having been confronted several times since then, I have chosen the later method of diffusing or walking away in those situations.

[SeiserL]

Gotta go with Kev on this one,

Some if it is the martial training.
Some may be maturity (I hope).
Some may be old age and fatigue.

[statisticool]

Tomáš,

Such fights are silly, as are training methods that end up getting the practicioner injured.

Engaging in both directly contradicts the goal of self defense.

[JLRonin]

You go to a pub to relax and have fun right? I don't think that any of us Aikidoka's would go to a pub to look for a fight and beat up on an unreasonable drunk. That would be unaiki and unbecoming of a Aikidoka. Buy him a drink and a cab fare.
To answer your q. I have always been a pasive person. That's why I chose Aikido. It fits me perfectly.
Best regards and God Bless.

[barry.clemons]

For me, Aikido has reinforced the meaning of 'conflict avoidance' more than it has 'conflict resolution'. Using your example; no, I've never had to forcibly sit someone down in a bar now that I've been studying Aikido.

[Kevin Leavitt]

Maybe resolution encompasses avoidance. I know we sometimes look at the two as equal concepts (avoidance vs resolution), I am guilty of this too.

However in looking at your post, it made me think that avoidance can be resolution.

There are times though that avoidance is not necessarily the best solution, nor the only one.

aikido certainly encompasses avoidance, manifest in irimi.

however, it follows up irimi with other actions, such as tenkan...that help further resolve it through positive action.

by avoidance (irimi) and through follow through resolution (tenkan), we put ourselves in a proactive position avoid further conflict (resolution).

An over simplification, I know, but in order to resolve conflict, we must typically look past the moment of avoidance and take steps to prevent it from happening again.

[Mark Uttech]

Aikido is about transformation, but transformation sometimes begins before one even starts aikido. When I was much younger,
I reflected on the fact that I almost never saw elderly people physically fighting.

In gassho

Mark