@tallpowerhouseblonde,
Please don’t bite my head off regarding the following observation. It is sincere.
I can fully understand your anger with being violated by a stranger and I also applaud your dedication to the martial arts to reach the rank of third dan.
My concern for you is the degree of anger and violence coming from a person such as yourself with advanced training in the martial arts.
Like you, I have trained in the martial arts for many years. I began when I was four years old and the training still continues. My background is from a military family who believe strongly in being skilled in self-defense. Just as strong as the development of skills to respond to situations of threat is the development of a calm inner center. A center that doesn’t respond from rage or fear and responds with doing only what is necessary to deal with the situation or accomplish a mission. This includes doing only what is necessary to neutralize the aggression. …or, when called for, dispatching the person with minimum pain or torment.
Don’t misunderstand, we are also trained to apply increments of coercion that lead to maiming but it is done with a purpose in mind and it is done with discretion. It is never done in the scenarios as you have written such as a social situation, especially where guys have been drinking. These guys are idiots acting on the impulses of a four year old. They are not worthy opponents in any sense of a warrior’s world.
It is hard I freely admit to develop a calm inner center and especially respond from this place if one is violated or sees others who are being victimized.
So why develop this patience or this ‘center’?
It is so that one’s journey in life is not awash from a place of emotional reaction. A person filled with rage, even if justified, ends up being as much a victim of violence. Carrying these feelings and memories within you as I see in your letter to Victoria….is corrosive to your soul or spirit. In the long run, from what I see, from examples of men and women coming home from several tours of duty overseas….it destroys them and their ability to love others. Please don’t let this happen to yourself.
I urge you to do whatever it takes to develop this center of peace and perhaps, if it is possible, one of compassion….even to those who don’t deserve it.