There was such an enormous response to this workshop and I can’t believe how fast it filled up.
Many parents have contacted me asking if I would do another workshop. I will look to possibly do another one next month. Who’s interested?
For now, my suggestion to all parents that have teens and college aged children that are hesitant to attend a self-defense class or workshop is to encourage them to get informed.
In my experience…
Most people do not want to think about the reality of human violence. I have friends who sleep with their front doors unlocked and who would never consider receiving instruction in self-defense. For them, gun ownership seems like an ugly and uncivilized flirtation with paranoia. Happily, most of these people will never encounter violence in any form. And good luck will make their unconcern seem perfectly justified.
But here are the numbers:
In 2013, there were 367.9 violent crimes per 100,000 persons in the United States. (The good news: This is an overall decrease of 5.1 percent from the level in 2012.) In 2010, the average American has a 1 in 250 chance of being robbed, assaulted, raped, or murdered each year. Actually, the chance is probably greater than this, because we know that certain crimes, such as assault and rape, are underreported.
Of course, your risks vary depending on who you are and where you live…
In Camden, one of the more dangerous parts of New Jersey, your chances of experiencing violent crime in 2013 were 1 in 39; if you lived in Mount Laurel they were 1 in 1346. However, keep in mind that many crimes go unreported.
It may seem burdensome to prepare yourself and your family to respond to violence, but…
Not preparing to respond to violence is also a form of preparation. Failing to prepare is, generally speaking, preparing very well to do the wrong thing. Although most of us are good at recognizing danger, our instincts often lead us to behave in ways that increase our chances of being injured or killed once a threat emerges.
Why can’t civilized people like ourselves simply rely on the police?
Well, look around you: Do you see a cop? Unless you happen to be a police officer yourself, or are married to one, you are very unlikely to be attacked in the presence of law enforcement. The role of the police is to respond in the aftermath of a crime and, with a little luck, to catch the person who committed it. If you are ever targeted by a violent predator, whether you and your family are injured or killed will depend on what you do in the first moments of the encounter. When it comes to survival, therefore, you are entirely on your own.
Once you escape and are in a safe place, by all means call the police. But dialing 911 when an intruder has broken into your home is not a strategy for self-defense. (The only exception to this rule is if you happen to have a “safe room”—a fortified room in your house equipped with a phone line that cannot be cut. Of course, very few people have one.)
However, instruction in self-defense need not consume your life.
The most important preparations are mental. While I certainly recommend that you receive some physical training, merely understanding the dynamics of violence can make you much safer than you might otherwise be.
Finally, you do not need to learn hundreds of techniques to become proficient in the physical aspects of self-defense.
Rather, you should train a small number of skills nearly to the point of reflex. Although you cannot do this by simply reading books or watching videos, I have recommended a few resources below that will help you start thinking along practical lines.
It is unpleasant to study the details of crime and violence—and for this reason many of us never do. I am convinced, however, that some planning and preparation can greatly reduce a person’s risk. And though there are exceptions to every rule, I don’t believe that there are important exceptions to the advice I have given here.
May you never have occasion to find self-defense strategies and techniques useful.
Get informed in 3 minutes and 49 seconds…
Below is an online presentation I did that will be helpful and informative.
