At the bus stop...

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[MaylandL]

G'day all

I've been a serious student of aikido for the past 14 years and before that, 5 years jujitsu and a couple of years wing chun kung fu.

So I'm heading to the bus stop to catch a bus to the car park and a teenage girl of about 14 jumps out in front of me and shouts..."ARRRRGGGGGH!" She's probably no more than a couple of inches from me and pretty well right in my face.

After an initial wtf and without thinking my right hand snakes out and clips her at the edge of the mouth. My left hand was holding on to my backpack. Smack and grab muggings have happened to other people in the past. Luckily, I was able to take most of the power out of the strike when I realised what as going on. Just a childish prank...no real threat there.

I feel a little guilty about hitting a defenceless girl...defenceless in the sense that she had no idea about receiving or having the conditioning to take a hit. At the same, I am glad that the "instinct" training that my sensei has been giving us ever since I started aikido worked. Feeling good about this and hitting the girl is making me feel a little guilty though.

She looked shocked and surprisd and said "you hit me..." and her friend was equally surprised..."you shouldnt hit girls". My reply was "she shouldn't have jumped out at me"

At the end of the day, I'm glad no one was really hurt.

Train hard everyone...you never know when you might need it :)

[Anysia]

She got what she deserved. And some say she got off lightly. She might have met up with someone with a gun, or a knife instead.

And from your description, this 'defenseless girl' was at least as tall as I am and I am taller than you are by a good 4 inches. Defenseless? Not hardly with the posse she had with her. I want you to stop feeling guilty or bad about bipping her. She set out to, at the very least, startle people, and she succeeded. And she was damned lucky it was you, and not someone with a knife, or a gun.

[mriehle]

No guilt assigns to you.

Practical jokes have practical consequences.

[mickeygelum]

Good for you...Why feel guilty? What would she have done had you not struck her, Did you ever think of that?

Mickey

[Janet Rosen]

I don't think you did anything wrong.
One HAS to assume ill intent when one is, for all intents and purposes, assaulted. That you pulled on a quick rescanning of the situation is commendable, but frankly if you hadn't been able to, well what was she thinking????

[CatSienna]

At two inches away and yelling at you full blast, I'll echo the others to say she's lucky she only got clipped. And if she had friend/s in tow you had every reason to fear this was a prelude to worse.

[Ron Tisdale]

Someone I used to train with in aikido is a yudansha in Shotokan karate. A friend of his USED to get his kicks hiding, and jumping out at him. One morning, he jumped out from a bunch of hedges, and my friend broke his arm.

My friend carried him to the hospital to get the xray and cast. His friend no longer jumps out at people. :D

Best,
Ron

[Dieter Haffner]

Somebody has been seeing to many Pink Panther movies.

[MaylandL]

Thank you for the comments everyone. It's very interesting to read some of the comments on "real world aikido" ( http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?p=197350#post197350) and trying to think about what happened. Not quite sure if it really is relevant. If anything, all the martial training that I have had and few the situations that I have been in where I have had to rely on my training, seems to have shown me that awareness and preparedness goes a long way to make sure you don't have to fight because you never put yourself in that position in the first place - that of a victim of violence or possible violence.

Train hard and have fun :D

[Beard of Chuck Norris]

I had a similar thing happen to me a few months a go.

A young guy around 14 ish i'd say (they all look the same to me) was walking in the opposite direction to me and when we came about 5 feet from each other he thought that it would be funny (i guess?) to stomp in front of me and shout "AAARGH!" as they obviously like to do. Trouble is, i had some of the metal blazing full volume in my ears so i didn't hear him. I saw the little bugger though, and proceeded to walk straight through him as he wriggled to avoid my lumbering bulk.

Lucky i didn't hear him over my music, i get annoyed when people interrupt my music... like Gary Oldman in Leon ;)

peace and love

Jo

[Phil Van Treese]

You used great restraint when she jumped out at you. If it were me that she did it to, she'd probably still be undergoing surgery. I have been jumped before and when you're not expecting something like this, reactions will take over. You did absolutely right. You have no blame or guilt to carry on your shoulders. Have a good day!!!!

[Ron Tisdale]

she'd probably still be undergoing surgery

Since 01/11/2008?!?!?!? ;)

That would probably be overkill... :eek:

Best,
Ron

[Dan Rubin]

Here's another guy with the same problem:

http://comics.com/f_minus/?DateAfter=2006-06-13&DateBefore=2006-06-13&Order=d.DateStrip+DESC&PerPage=1&x=24&y=3&Search=

(Oops! Year-old thread...)

[Ron Tisdale]

Lol
B,
R

[Buck]

Mayland,

I have never been in your neck of the woods, I hear it is a pretty tough place. After reading you post, I know it is. If I am ever there I will not mess with anyone like that. Train hard everyone...you never know when you might need it ain't that the truth! :)