The principles of the Martial Arts that include respect and courtesy have been around for thousands of years and have been virtually unchanged. These principles that have lasted lifetimes are still being taught freely at Martial Arts schools across the world. In most Martial Arts schools, you will witness many types of acts of respect and courtesy. Students can be heard saying “Yes sir” and “Yes ma’am” as a regular occurrence; you will see bowing, hand shaking, and raising of hands before a question is asked; you may also hear students’ grammar being corrected when they say “yeah,” to say “Yes.”  Yet outside of the Martial Arts schools, why is it a common discussion topic among friends that there is a lack of respect in society today?

The answer, I believe, is that with the advancement of society we are simply getting out of practice.

If we want to raise patient, caring, empathetic, respectful children in our society, we can’t expect for it to happen automatically. We all need to behave in that way, then teach it and expect it. It’s easy to want to point the finger at computer games, Hollywood movies and other people as being bad influences on children and on parents. Yet many children become a perfect representation of what parents and other influential people in their lives have modeled for them.

By teaching our children to stop and look someone in the eyes when they’re speaking to them or being spoken to, or even by holding the door open for the next person behind us, we’re showing our children how to be respectful.

At our Bully Buster seminar yesterday, we discussed the idea that there is only one reason for someone to bully another person – a lack of confidence (on both parties). This can start to change by also instilling respect in our children.

In Japanese it is pronounced kempo, in Mandarin Chinese, chuan fa, and in the Hokkien dialect, kuntao. Regardless of how it is pronounced, all of these words come from the same Chinese characters and have been translated variously as fist law, fist rule, fist way, and way of the fist. Using Hepburn's Japanese and English Dictionary, a long-standing authority on the Japanese language, the word kempo is made from two Chinese characters - ken and ho. Ken translated literally means "a game played with the hands." Ho means "rule" or "law." When these two simple characters are combined, their pronunciation becomes "kempo" which is written in Romanji as kempo or kenpo.

The literal translation of these two characters then, is a game played with the hands, and "rule" or "law." But, as with most languages, literal translation is woefully inadequate. Take the case of the computer translating program which attempted to translate Russian technical journals into English. Since it could only translate literally it completely missed the mark when it translated the Russian term for a "hydraulic ram" into "water goat." "Fist way" and "fist law" also miss the mark (although not so dramatically). If we go beyond the literal translation of "rules of a game played with the hands" (rearranged) we come up with "boxing principles." Fist law, fist rule, fist way, etc., are all acceptable, but boxing principles better captures the characters' real meaning.

One more refinement, however, should bring us even closer. Substitute the word "fighting" for "boxing." This is because to the Western mind "boxing" carries a hands-only connotation, where Oriental martial arts "boxing" includes both hands and feet. Substituting "fighting" for "boxing" then removes that "hands only" impression, yielding "fighting principles" as the best translation of the term - kempo.

On a final note - we often refer to "fighting." Do  not mistake this to mean that we expect you to be mugged next week, or some lunatic to attack you at your local gas station (Weigel's in Knoxville!).  We use the word "fighting" because the possibility that you will be attacked is the basic premise in all martial-arts training. This is just a focal point for your martial arts training. View the martial arts as a path to inner peace, a sport, a way to lose weight, a physical-fitness discipline, or just a hobby. Any of those are fine, but keep your focus on the imaginary confrontation to guide you through your martial arts training.

Fighting is both a literal possibility and a metaphor for battles with any enemy you have in mind, whether it's obesity, stress, laziness, or a street thug.

If you’re in a situation where self-defense is needed, how do you know the best defensive measure to exercise? The type of self-defense strategy that you use is really based on your circumstances. Not all self-defense techniques can or should be used because they’re not all guaranteed to work. Taking a self-defense course is the best way to understand what strategies to utilize and when you should implement them. In the mean time, here’s a quick list on some moves that you should practice.

1.  Groin Kick

Not only one of the best moves, but also one that’s thought of first is a simple, swift kick to the groin. Abrupt and sudden contact to the groin can render an attacker defenseless, at least for a minute or two, and that’s all the time you need to make a quick get-away.

2.  Eye Jab

The eyes are soft and easy targets. Using your fingers and thrusting them into the eyes is effective because it’s usually not expected. Keep in mind that an eye jab is used to disarm an attacker, not blind them. A well-delivered eye jab will cause pain, blurry vision and eye watering and that can buy you a few seconds to escape.

3.  Foot Stomp

Assailants need to be in close proximity to you in order to attack and this can be advantageous for this next move. Using all your might, stomp down on the top of the foot with your heel. Not the toes, but the long metacarpal bones that connect to them. With enough force you have the potential to break the bones and certainly delay the attack. This window of opportunity is all you need to flee the scene to safety.

4.  Headbutt

If you’re arms and hands are being restrained, use what you’ve got - your noggin. Your head can be used as a battering ram to slam into an attacker’s nose, face and mouth. Use your skull to slam into vulnerable and accessible facial areas with full force. Again, the goal is to create a diversion so that you can run for help.

As with any technique, practice makes perfect. If you haven’t used self-defense techniques before or in quite awhile, consider enrolling in a course to get freshened up. Choosing to be prepared is planning for survival.

In the last few months, there have been three news items that represent typical America today.  The first item is a story about a 15 year old girl in South Hadley Massachusetts that was bullied so much at school that she committed suicide.  The second story was about a girl who was beaten up so badly at her high school by a boy six times her size that she was in a coma for weeks, and is still in the hospital.  Finally, the third story is about a young boy who was set on fire by another group of teens.  He will be recovering from his injuries for the next year or so.

Like I said in the first line, these incidents now represent typical America.  Long gone are the old days where two boys scrapped it out after school until one cried uncle.  Education and young life in America has become a very real urban war zone, and the ultimate price is being paid.

This morning, I saw a news item on some of these incidents.  Specifically, it showed very angry parents lashing out at school officials.  As a matter of fact, some of the parents were so angry that they were beginning to become violent and had to be escorted out of meetings with school officials.

Now, I have to agree that school officials have to be aware of bullying, and have to enforce policies relative to such; however, bully prevention begins at home.  If parents want to be mad, then they should be mad at themselves.  Why?  Well, let me ask this question:  What have you done as a parent to teach your kids how to take care of themselves?

• Do your kids sit around playing videos more than 1 or 2 hours a week?  If so, they are not learning about reality.  In video games they can be as ominous as their thumbs let them.
• Do your kids spend most of their communications time texting?  If so, they are losing the ability to verbally defend themselves and confront their assailants.  Texting is okay WITH LIMITS.
• Remember, all of the basketball, baseball, or tennis skills in the world won’t work.  Want them involved in a school sport?  Choose wrestling.
• Do your kids train in Martial Arts?  Martial arts training teaches sportsmanship, confidence.  It creates a team environment. No one – absolutely no one- is ever bullied in the Martial Arts Gym.  If anything, fellow students bolster each other’s self confidence and self worth.
• Have you ever taken your child to a bully prevention class?  I have offered three in the past 18 months.  Total attendance was 2.  Can you imagine that; only two sets of parents willing to give up the time to see to it that their kid had an advantage!
• Do you keep your kids fit through promotion of exercise, and good diet?  Many kids who are bullied are victims because of their physical appearance.

If you need help with the bullying problem – give one of the instructors a call at 865-481-8901.

PS.  Bullying doesn’t stop in school……just ask any adult if they have encountered a bully as an adult!