Thoughts:
Some have asked me, your a Buddhist, right, how come to practice with a long rifle, and martial arts? Aren't you committed to pacifism?
No, I reply. I am a committed Buddhist, I train in seeing the truth, in myself, and in the world. Only those that are ready and able to use violence, can discern when NOT to use it, and when it is necessary. It is this discerning mind that allows one to cherish and protect all life. I will not stand idle and let others do great harm.
🙏🏼
I appreciate this sentiment, Corlin.
I've had people lecture me for not fighting back more the few times that I've been sexually assaulted. But there are risk calculations to mitigate harm in everything we live through. When a scrawny kid with a gun pressed to my temple robbed me in Feb, I *knew* I could've taken him in hand-to-hand. But I also knew my limits. Experiences with martial arts taught me to know when fight, and when not to.
I'm thankful you pursue similar balance, too. 🙏
Hi there. I am a snub-nose 38, my grips are black electrical tape. I am held shakily in the hand of a young punk on a dark San Francisco night.
As My owner bends down to pick up your wallet, you kick me across the street.
My ex-owner, is now laying out flat on the sidewalk, clutching a broken kneecap.
I will soon be in a a box in an evidence locker, waiting to be exhibit A.
To tell the truth, I might have misfired, as I was never properly cleaned.
(a true story)
Oh, thou speakest such truth!
The two times I was robbed at gunpoint (the first by two men at once), and the one time I was assaulted with a gun in the picture, too, I couldn't be sure if the damned things were even working properly. I know I'd taken the sensible gamble each time, but I live with dramatic retellings of each story, wherein I play Russian roulette, on the basis of how poorly each firearm seemed to be maintained, despite my size disadvantage.
(IOW: Good for you! 🎉)