I spent 8 years in the infantry and I have spent the vast majority of my life immersed in firearms and the culture that surrounds them. I have studied multiple martial arts systems. Most recently I have been studying a groovy new technique for crushing a man’s trachea. I don’t go anywhere unarmed and I’m always in a combat mindset. When I cross the street, it’s to take up up a better defensive fighting position and to disrupt their attack plan.
Jolly good. However, in the back of your mind, it is always good to remember the philosophy of the Chinese policeman.
An American was visiting Beijing, when he got nailed by an inattentive bicyclist. Fortunately, while a bit stunned, neither were seriously injured. But then up walked a cop.
Having witnessed the accident, he promptly issued the bicyclist a traffic ticket. But then he issued one to the American as well. Puzzled, the American asked him why?
“Had you not come to China in the first place, this accident could not have happened. Therefore, you are partly to blame.”
While on the surface this seems outrageous, in reflection, the Chinese cop had a point, a point provided in some martial arts studies.
A “spontaneous” fight is not an easy thing to arrange. Participants must meet at the same place and time, and in such a way that a fighting level of antipathy can be created. If you think about it, there are so many opportunities for a fight to *not* happen that it can lead to the notion that they are *intentional*.
Unless you want a fight, what could have motivated you to be in a bad neighborhood late at night or early in the morning, and appear such an attractive target that those you would fight find attacking you irresistible.