Garth

Agree as in try to regain or get ahead of the "OODA' loop again, ( I think) as Kevin has explained before.

Quick related matter as it happened to me yesterday.
I was driving my son to practice yesterday in a residential suburb yesterday, (Staten Island which is not exactly NYC if you dont know, totally opposite) and noticed what appeared to be a "homeless" type person standing on the corner of busy thorofare/intersection. Certainly by manner of dress(shabby/dirty ) and actions(rocking back and forth on his heels) , he looked out of place.
+1 for me because I noticed. Defcon 1 or yellow alert.
5 to 10 minutes later I am returning along the same thorofare and low behold he is still there (buses run like every 5 minutes here) , BUT now I am stopped right there at a red light. AKA sitting duck.
Window is down , person in question steps off curb and looks to be crossing street .( also hood is up on a hot summer day and he is looking at the floor) . As he crosses in front of my car( 2nd lane from him) he makes a bee line for my window. Oh forgot to mention Defcon 4 here as thoughts of what I should do are now pulsing thru my head at his first step towards me and boring holes thru him with laser stare. Cant blow the red light,cant run the guy down, I am not armed and am sitting in a car behind the wheel. ( I understand as the enviroment changes so should I here)
The only thing I could do is roll up the window and lock the doors, without looking like a total maniac.
4-5 feet from window he looks up and sees I am not "happy" stops and with a slightly off kilter voice asks for money without taking another step. Once I see his eyes and hear his voice, I can tell he is "off" a couple of cards.
Now, a couple of things. Street begging although rarer now since Mayor Giuliani cleaned up the place in the 90s can be very sucessful in New York especially by non native NYers who still believe in the goodness of people (IE recent transplants to NY have softer hearts and readily give)( an over generaliztion but witnessed non the less). Also, I realized immediately after my encounter that I could have just rolled the window up no matter how inhuman or unmanly that is deemed to be), but also realized that at the time I had locked my self into a confrontation or relationship with this person by sitting there with the window open. Had he had ill intentions, I would have been forced to deal with it from a seated position of a car in gear. Other options? not many unless you practice this sought of thing at least in your head. Throw the car in park quickly, maybe? Watch the light to change to green while I delayed him with BS and speed off?(some suburban traffic lights are notoriously long). Mace??
I am thankful for the awareness, but as we can see here and in Colorado last night, there are certain situations that lend itself to putting you behind the loop .. very fast.
Besides most people in aikido it seems to me, dont seem like confrontation initiators, so what to do?