Going the Extra Mile

Today was a training day. I feel that I’m improving somewhat. I was sparring with Jiblit today and I was finding that I was having no trouble dodging his swings and talking at the same time(It’s a little harder than walking and chewing gum [unless the gum is super-glue and you’re walking on a bed of nails]).

Talking is an important aspect of my technique (and an annoying one too [talking and fighting, the annoying one two]). Any ol’ weapon dodger can deflect and dodge an assailant (or they wouldn’t be called a weapon dodger [well… they could be called ‘that dead weapon dodger’]). But my cause is not to prevent myself from getting injured; It is to stop others from trying to injure me. It is not my intention to force them to think that they can’t beat me. It is my intention to force them to think (Much like inner-city school teachers [only Neo can dodge bullets]). No one is so purely evil that they want to fight purely to maim and destroy. They have another reason (They also want to feel things crumble [or just watch them crumble]). The key to defusing these people is to discover their reason for fighting, and give them an alternative route to that goal (Like a hostile take-over? [It’s interesting that on the stock market a hostile take-over isn’t physically hostile]). Some people don’t even know why they’re fighting. It is for those people that I always say "please stop" after dodging their first swing (or their second swing if they’re really quick [They can’t dodge wit]). It really makes them stop to think.

I wonder if it works for conversations. Or people who get defensive?… I don’t think so. Conversations are where people get to swing their beliefs around (Ouch! I just got hit by a paradigm! [A scientific stabbing, or a faithful flogging?]). Physical fighting just has people swinging weapons (or fists if no weapons are around [I suppose they kick and bite too]). We’re much more likely to stop swinging our weapons than our beliefs. Interesting.

No one’s gonna stop me from drinking this glass of water. It fuels my body and my beliefs (and my ability to stop weapons [but not my ability to not go to the bathroom]).