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Old 02-27-2011, 05:52 PM   #16
Garth Jones
Dojo: Allegheny Aikido
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 166
United_States
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

I have trained hard in my study of aikido over the past 20+ years, but like Lynn, my aikido is certainly not up to Tony's street reality.

That being said, aikido has all kinds of positive influences on my life that have nothing to do with defending myself on the street. I am much calmer (and I was one pissed off teenager!), much harder to move off my center when dealing with people, and I have saved myself from serious injury a number of times when I've tripped and fell. Also, I have managed to reach the age of 44 without needing to defend myself on the street. That doesn't mean I won't be jumped tomorrow, but I do live in a fairly safe place, so the odds are pretty good.

That being said, my custom furniture shop is in a questionable neighborhood that does have some crime. Over the years I have had rather a number of drug addicts and weirdos wander into my shop, usually wanting to sell me some little tool that they have stolen. A rather soft 'thanks but no thanks' approach has worked very well. These folks live in the neighborhood and I want to deflect them without irritating them so they are not tempted to return when I'm gone to try and break in or just vandalize the place.

Tony said that we "need a good form of legitimate self defense." In the US that form of self defense must take in to account the very real possibility of being faced with one or more attackers carrying hand guns. Muggers, street thugs, punks who rob stores, etc. often commit their crimes with guns and that changes the self defense equation substantially. Much has been written on the topic of armed self defense - and I'm no expert. I just wanted to mention the issue.

If I were really worried about my safety at work, I would keep a shotgun in my shop and perhaps carry a concealed handgun (legal and very easy to do in Pennsylvania). And I would practice with the weapons as seriously as I have trained in aikido.

I hope this perspective is helpful,
Garth

PS Atemi is not taboo in my dojo or with my teachers and I've never, in 22 years of aikido, run into any senior person telling me that atemi was bad.