Willing to Survive?

Sometimes when I teach self defense techniques for situations that involve a higher level of threat such as an assault at knife point, chokes, or attempted rape, I will hear "I couldn't do that to a person" or "I don't want to hurt him permanently"! This is when I have to get into a discussion on the willingness to survive. It's also an opportunity to discuss the "rules of self defense". So here is the list...

Rules of an assault:

• There are NO RULES

That's right... your assailant is not fighting "fair". Someone attacking you is not what you would consider a "reasonable person". They will be WILLING to hurt you, cut you, poke you, tear your, break you, poke out your eyes, burn you, beat you, drown you, rape you, piss on you, and kill you. So now that we understand the rules the assailant will be playing by, what rules are you going to go by? Are you willing to do what it takes to stop or prevent this morally twisted individual from harming you or your loved ones?

Are you willing to break his bones, poke out his eyes, strike or cut him with a weapon or opportunity, bite, kick, punch, or drive his head or body into an obstacle?

By nature humans don't want to cause anyone undue harm. I'm not advocating that you punish or brutally destroy anyone who attacks you. But are you willing to be as brutal as is neccessary to escape the situation and contact the authorities?

Are you WILLING TO SURVIVE?