Aggressive: To Be or Not To Be

Q: What do all martial arts have in common?
A: They are designed to work while in motion and from a defensive posture.

I was watching the news one night, and they were showing a fight that took place between a batter and a catcher during a baseball game.

Before we go any further, I want to put something into perspective here: a National League catcher has 100 mph fastballs thrown near his head for nine innings most nights of the week during the season. He catches these balls and makes split-second decisions if or where to throw these balls. How good do you think this man's hand-eye coordination is?

Okay, back to the fight. This batter squared off against the catcher, the catcher really didn't move and yet the batter attempted what looked like a roundhouse kick. The catcher then took the batter's foot and stuck it in what looked to be in the batter's mouth.

When we practice martial arts the correct way, it is the patience, skill and timing that make the fighter — not the amount of aggression.

In my opinion, martial arts in this country are being taught too aggressively, and the depiction of violent martial arts in the cinema is making us believe that if we are competent fighters in practice, then in the street we are indomitable.