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Life is violence. From the men in the abbotoir who kill the animals you eat, to the men in far countries who kill the animals who want to kill you, to the bouncer in the nightclub who gets a knife in the gut so YOU don't have to, to the cop and the prison guard and the bounty hunter who keep you separate from the REAL scum, even if you denounce violence, it is the blood of men of violence that sustains you, that allows you to draw breath to call them monsters.
Consider how long you would last in a lawless, borderless land where you have to do your own fighting, your own killing, or die, watch those you love die? Those countries exist, and there but for the grace of men of violence go you. You cannot end violence with appeasement- the wicked will take all you have, then take you. You cannot reason with evil, it will laugh as it cuts your throat. Evil will only respect a power greater than it's own, will only stop from fear, not remorse or pity or satiation, fear of violence wielded by the just. The monks of China were Buddhists, and denounced violence, but trained a lifetime in the martial arts. Why? Because they knew the only hand worthy of the sword was one who knew full well the implications of wielding it on living flesh, yet still chose to do so, not out of anger or revenge or fear, but justice, the greater good, and the preservation of innocent life. When I teach people to hurt and maim, I tell them that yes, violence is a disease, but disease is part of life. What we do in the confines of the Dojo is immunisation, as you immunise against the killer smallpox with the lesser cowpox, you immunise against the lethal attack of the mugger or rapist or terrorist with the smaller violence of fighting with friends, in a controlled environment, in safety. All animals fight, all animals playfight. We play, to teach us to survive life, which is violence, whether we have to face the violence ourselves or not. |
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