A wife with confidence in her husband

From the June 5 edition of the Boston Globe, a story of a retired police officer who subdued an unruly passenger on a flight to Boston, and a quote from the officer's wife on why she kept reading her book while he did it:

"The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading," Katie Hayden said. "Bob's been shot at. He's been stabbed. He's taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody's neck, and that would be the end of it. I knew how that situation would end. I didn't know how the book would end."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...nger_in_check/

Made my day...
Lan

Confidence is good, overconfidence is not. The fact that "he's been stabbed" is indication enough that some concern might still be warranted. There is almost always a palpable risk, regardless of one's proficiency. It is an entertaining story, though.

I LOVE stories like this, especially when they involve Marines! Well done gentlemen, well done.

My shotokan Sensei used to say that however trained and talented you are, you will always one fine day meet someone who will be better than you. The assumption that only honest people have access to martial arts training and the talent to excel in them is completely naive. One fine day, this woman is going to close her book to find her husband dead.

Whatever was the true reason for her not wanting to look at what was happening... who can blame her for wanting to give the reporter an answer that added to her husband's glory? I certainly don't want to.

Reminds of this story I read in Karl Geis Sensei's interview with AJ.

"When I was training in the Kodokan in the fifties the head of the foreign section was the great Takagaki. Hanshi. He began teaching a group of us foreign student's defense against knife attacks. We kept showing up week after week and the lessons got better and better. One day I, in my arrogance, said Sensei "How good would I do against a real knife attacker?" He answered "Geis-san you are very skilled. You would win 99 out of 100 times. But Geis-san, you never know when 100 is coming up. It might be the first time. Always run from any fight if you can."

Why should the wife worry, her worry will not help her husband. In fact her fretting, might cause him a laps in concentration.

I'm sitting here tapping my desk, wondering if I want to get into this...why not!

So, why do we practice martial arts? For ourselves or for others? Only you can answer that. Do we evaluate each confrontation to determine if it will be "worth while" or "What's the return on my investment?" That type of thinking is exactly why people get mugged on the street and people sit by and watch. Pathetic! I would bet in most cases you're not going to find out if it's worth your while until it's all over with. Sure, that guy may be better than me, he may kick my a$$, or he may not. If I'm on a plane and you start acting crazy, you better be good and you're gonna have to prove it to me.

If you're on a ship and there's a fire, where you gonna go? Better pick up a hose, a water bucket, a wet washcloth, whatever, and get into the fight.

With that said, I forwarded this to my wife and she said she'd do the same thing. She likes a good book.

All I can say is that it made for a good story, with a happy ending! A applaud someone that has courage enough to stand up and do the right thing.

Marie Noelle Fequiere wrote: One fine day, this woman is going to close her book to find her husband dead.

Dear Marie Noelle,
you are probably right, she might find her husband dead one day. But why should she watch every jab or cut her husband takes until then?
As Janet said, we do not know, why she pretended looking in the book instead of watching he upcoming fight, and probaly she had some arguments with her husband afterwards, but that is not meant for the public.

While I do not want to promote those heroes, there are situations, where you should not run away - literally taken it would be difficult in a flying airplane . So even as I do not know the situation, there might be good reason, why two well-trained "grand-pas" took the risk and not a couple of unskilled flight assistents.
Probably there is neither any reason to glorify those two, nor to blame the younger men or women araound, which preferred not to intervene.

best regards Dirk

I agree with alot of what's been said on this subject already.Perticularly MARIE NOELLE's statement.(you know where this is going...one of those "if I was there..." statements).I have not followed the link and checked out the full story, if there's any more to be read, that is.If I was in that situation my PRIME concern would be the safety of myself and my wife.Nobody could or should I say should stand watching this passenger assault anybody physicaly.If, of course this guy was completely going off his head and threatening to open the hatch or something THAT is the intervention point for me.I'm not saying what this guy did, ultimately was wrong....then again.I'm not too sure it was right,either.

Dirk Hanss wrote: Dear Marie Noelle, you are probably right, she might find her husband dead one day. But why should she watch every jab or cut her husband takes until then? Because in case things started going bad for him, who knows, maybe she could try something to help, like distracting the problem passenger during just a few seconds by hitting him in the back, so that her husband could get back on his feet. Yes, she would put herself in danger. But considering that the other passengers had decided not to help, and since, I repeat, she was not really sure that her husband would win, someone had to do something! As Janet said, we do not know, why she pretended looking in the book instead of watching he upcoming fight, and probaly she had some arguments with her husband afterwards, but that is not meant for the public. Janet and you have a point here. While I do not want to promote those heroes, there are situations, where you should not run away - literally taken it would be difficult in a flying airplane . So even as I do not know the situation, there might be good reason, why two well-trained "grand-pas" took the risk and not a couple of unskilled flight assistents. Probably there is neither any reason to glorify those two, nor to blame the younger men or women araound, which preferred not to intervene. best regards Dirk

The real subject of the post is the wife's attitude, not her husband's. Both him and the other "grand-pa" have all my admiration, and all my respect.

I realize that I made a big jumble with Dirk's comments and mine (I am doing this at work, and I get interrupted often)
I hope you all understand. If not, tell me, I will rephrase.

One more thing: If I had a hero husband like that, I would never grow tired of watching him save the world. I would always be carrying a camera, and I would brag all day long in front of my friends.

Mrs. Hayden, as a cop's wife, probably learned many years ago to live with the danger her husband experienced. Many spouses of law enforcement officers learn to cope by adopting the attitude that the spouse was always on top of the game and could withstand anything. Obviously that isn't always true, but it gets them through the long nights. That, and after a career with Boston PD, Mr. Hayden probably has a track record for meeting violent challenges successfully. Additionally, she had the benefit of being there and being able to assess the relative size, strength, sobriety and other factors of the suspects and the two peacekeepers. Good for the two men! They may have saved a lot of lives in the plane and on the ground, and if nothing else, they've given us something to discuss here.