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Old 03-02-2011, 12:19 PM   #24
Susan Dalton
Dojo: Greensboro Kodokan
Location: Greensboro
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 346
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Re: Injury and Responsibility

Quote:
Peter A Goldsbury wrote: View Post
I agree with everything that Susan has stated in her column, but I want also to stress that in my experience not all 'accidents' resulting in injury in aikido are clearly accidents, in which no one is to blame.
PAG
I overthink. I'm more comfortable in my head than in my body, which made aikido very difficult for me at first. But that trait also makes me take care because I can imagine many unwanted outcomes.

Many years ago my son was around 13 and we were camping at the beach. He had been hanging around his parents and 5 year old sister and was bored, so while we went on a hike, we let him go to the arcade alone. Some weeks later he told me what happened that night. A group of older kids began taunting him and he invited them to have carnal knowledge of themselves. The biggest and most vocal threw a punch, and my son stepped back, saw all the ways this kid was open, and stepped in a strike with his entire body. The kid went down hard, stayed down, and the others scattered.

My son told me he felt that this punch was his only option. He believed that if he turned and walked away, he would be followed and jumped by the entire group. I told my son that once the fight started, he had every right to protect himself. However, he needed to look at what he'd done to escalate the situation. What if the kid had hit his head on the asphalt and died? Is being called a few names a reason for someone to die?

You're right--we often have to look at what happened before the "accident" to understand the situation. A dojo culture that is proud of injury sounds dangerous to me.
Susan
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