Real warriors don’t want to fight. They don’t have to.
I was reminded of this truth with the loss of martial arts action hero Chuck Norris this past week. I was never a fan of his politics. But as six time World Professional Middleweight Karate Champion, "Walker Texas Ranger" was steeped in the art and philosophy that I absorbed in the study of Taekwondo and that infuses all the Eastern traditions of self-defense.
People study martial arts for many reasons, sometimes for all the wrong reasons. For example, I have had potential students come to my dojo with a belligerent and cocky attitude. When I ask why they want to study my art, their response has indicated to me that their goal is to learn to fight, which is the antithesis of the philosophy I hope to instill: I want them to know how to defend themselves if necessary, but to avoid fighting whenever possible because they will have nothing to prove by fighting. (Chuck Norris)
De-escalating is part of the wisdom of every martial art. My Tai Chi instructor, a retired cop and bodyguard skilled in combat training, told me that he was occasionally challenged to fight by guys needing to prove their machismo. He would simply request that they do the sparring up on the surface of a four foot square table top. That usually ended the challenge.
How different from the posturing on the part of Pete Hegseth, chair of what is now—in an alarming name change—the Department of War.
We fight wars to win, not to defend. Defense is something you do all the time…We fight to win. We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters. (Pete Hegseth lecturing 300 Generals and Admirals last September)
Hegseth’s remarks represent not just a change of tone, not just a rebuke to the Geneva Conventions, not just a contravention of the U.S. Military Law of War manual designed to protect civilians, assure that targets are military in nature, and guarantee that use of force is in conformity with international law and American treaty obligations. Glorifying “maximum lethality” is not just a horrible perversion of Hegseth’s professed Christian faith. Even worse, it is a strategic miscalculation that will drag America into unnecessary conflict again and again, as it has in Iran.
The point is, if you constantly need to prove through your trash talk, through baiting and taunting your adversaries, through the military parades staged on your birthday, or other saber-rattling gestures that you are the biggest, baddest hombre in the room, you are likely to end up getting slugged.
It’s the bullies who are afraid, are the ones who do all the fighting. It’s not the secure kids that get out there and fight. It’s the insecure kids. (Chuck Norris)
The first move in a kata (the choreographed exercises that characterize martial arts training) is always defensive, in the spirit of karate ni sente nashi: karate aims to ward off attack but does not seek to initiate violence. Chuck Norris could have taught our War Secretary, and our President, a lesson in how to be real warriors.
