Consequences
Consequences.
If you’re a fan of the John Wick movies like I am (1, 2, and 3, not the 4th installment), you no doubt recall the characters often mentioning “consequences” in regards to their actions.
When I was a teenager in the 1980’s, there was a popular saying, “It’s better to be judged by twelve, than to be carried out by six,” which meant in a self-defense situation, it was better to kill your attacker and possibly stand trial, rather than have your attacker kill you and be carried out in a casket at your funeral by six pallbearers.
The 1980’s was also the first time I remember hearing about a violent criminal who broke into someone’s house and got shot. The criminal ended up winning a civil suit against the home owner for damages. This philosophy is now rampant in America (victimizing criminals) and I am at a complete loss trying to understand it. My only thought is the people that are making these policies have never been victims, nor have they been to truly violent places, nor have they associated with violent people.
Even if they were victimized, people with very deep, tribal feelings, can’t find it in themselves to admit they were wrong these days. That goes for the left, and the right. They can’t say, “You know what, I was wrong about this. But now I feel...” No matter how bad the ship is sinking, despite having a life vest, they’ll go down with the ship, just to save face.
While I’ve never been a victim, I’ve met many who have been--whether they were my students, or they attended one of my self-defense seminars. I toured a gang infested part of Los Angeles with reformed gangbangers (Homeboy Industries) for a day, and listened to why they were in gangs in the first place. I ran the front door to a very violent, gang infested nightclub in the late 1980’s in Hollywood where I was shot at five times and had a ex-con (released that morning) come back with a gun to kill me. I spent three days in Prichard, Alabama where the police don’t go, teaching a self-defense clinic to church volunteers at The Light of the Village. During the Sunday service I sat with an ex-con who had done eleven years on a twenty year sentence for first degree murder simply because he “wanted to see what it would be like to shoot someone in the face.”
What’s interesting is, all of these men I spoke with (Homeboy/Light), all of them accepted the consequences of their actions. They didn’t make excuses, and I had great respect for all of them for that. Despite what life had put them through (the consequences), these men were now making the best they could out of life and doing their best to help others not follow in their early footsteps.
We good people, must now consider the consequences of our actions more than ever. First off, and I’m not getting any kind of kickback for this, I have personal insurance through the Delta Defense Network. Primarily because I have a concealed carry permit. But Delta Defense (a network of attorneys) will go to bat for you in an unarmed situation or even if your dog bites someone protecting you as well. So, if you’re not acquainted with a lawyer, I’d start looking into finding one. You don’t want to have broken your attacker’s jaw protecting yourself only to find yourself being slapped in handcuffs along with your attacker.
In one of my latest videos on YouTube titled “How to End a Fight in 3 Seconds,” I suggest rather than kicking a downed attacker in the head, if you’re afraid they might get back up to their feet and continue trying to hurt/kill you, a better option might be to stomp down on the back of their achilles tendon (provided they are lying face down).
Why? Consider the consequences of a jury watching cellphone video of you kicking and stomping your downed attacker in the head (even though he was trying to kill you). They would likely forget what caused you to protect yourself in the first place, and be left with the image of you stomping them. But if you stomped across the back of their achilles tendon instead, that could be reasoned as a true effort to keep your attacker from getting back up to his feet and trying to further assault you. Make sense?
Another point to consider is that it might take several stomps or kicks to the head to put someone to sleep. You then run the risk of doing more serious damage such as shattering an orbital socket, or worse, causing a brain bleed. Now instead of looking like the victim, you look like the savage criminal, even though this guy has a rap sheet of violent crimes a mile long.
Sometimes you won’t have the luxury of considering the consequences of your actions, because you have to act immediately. But you can practice by imagining certain scenarios and visualizing choices and the possible outcomes of your actions. So if you’re confronted with a similiar situation, you’ve done a little bit of prep work.
A perfect example of weighing the possible consequences of your actions would be if someone speeds up and cuts in front of you at an approaching traffic signal that turns red. You have to slam on your brakes to avoid rear ending them, and your groceries fly off the back seat and go everywhere. Likely they’re in a rush and want to get a jump on the light to get ahead of traffic when the light turns green (or maybe they’re just driving like an ass). But you honk and flip them the traffic finger.
Now the driver gets out of his car, and he’s scary big, covered in cheap prison looking tattoos, and he looks crazy as hell. You’re just 5’8” and 150 lbs., clearly no match for this brute. The big, crazy looking guy runs to your car, tries to open your locked door, then punches your window in covering you in broken glass.
You happen to have a concealed carry permit, and in fear of your life, you shoot and kill him. You’ve just created a total hell for yourself when you could have just let it all go by not honking and flipping him off. In my eyes, if I was judge and jury, I’d say go on with your day, and good riddance of the crazy driver. But it won’t be nearly that easy. If it goes to court and you get off, you still might suffer from mental anguish over killing someone. In the movies, people kill with zero remorse. It’s like tying their shoes. But the real world is much, much different.
Consequences...
