Today, I had the pleasure of having coffee with my Jiu-Jitsu instructor. I say pleasure because he is my friend and he also paid for coffee, So it was a pretty good deal. We talked about last nights WEC fight on Versus network. He told me that he, and his 5 year old son, went to a sports bar/restaurant for dinner and convinced them to put on the fights in the area he was eating. While sitting eating his meal and watching the fights, he was approached by a British woman. She had left her table of friends and family, to come over and inform him of what a terrible parent he was being. Apparently, she wasn't very subtle in her method of delivering the message. Basically, telling the guy that she couldn't believe that he was subjecting his small child to viewing this violence, and that her children were at the next table suffering the same fate. Well, after she gave my friend an earful she turned on the owner of the restaurant. This woman complained that this television program was doing severe damage to her children's developing minds and needed to be immediately turned to Barney or the wiggles or some other Saturday morning bullshit. "Please God change it before my children want to eat red meat!" Well, surprisingly, the owner of this sports bar/restaurant had a pair of balls, and he happened to have them with him at that moment. He told her "No, this is a sports bar and that is a sporting event. If you don't like it you can leave". Well, she finished her meal, and her kids heads didn't explode, and she left. Probably, never to return.
Now, here are my thoughts on this lovely dinner encounter.
Life is violent. From the begining to the end. Being born is a violent event, whichever way you come out, Natural or Cesarean Section. Natural child birth is extremely violent. Your small body comes out a canal that is half as small as it should be. In fact it's so violent that your head is misshapen for several days after birth. Cesarean is no less violent. Your mother's abdomen is sliced open, her intestines moved around, and your body is snatched out through the incision. I've seen both of these methods and neither one is a pretty sight.
Death is usually violent. Automobile accidents, falling off your roof, being attacked by killer bees, being eaten by sharks, and having a piano dropped on your head, are all fairly violent ends. But, even a heart attack is a violent end. That's why people grab their chests in pain just before their hearts stop beating. Usually, people die with a look of discomfort on their faces.
So, between the begining and the end there is also the opportunity for violence to be encountered or observed. Violence Happens!
We as parents have to prepare our children to deal with violence. Whether we like it or not, children will encounter violence. Usually, the first place is at home from a sibling, cousin, neighborhood friend, or pet. I'm talking about getting bit. Yes, a bite is violent. Then comes a hit, a slap, or a kick. Of course you tell your kid "It's not nice to hit people". Which is true, it's not nice to hit people, but sometimes it's necessary. Especially, if the Light Heavyweight title is on the line.
Later on, kids run into the school bully. Everyone remembers the school bully. Some people stood up to the bully, some did not. Sometimes, the school bully haunts people all the way into their adult life.
Then, sometimes in life, you run into real hardcore violence. In law enforcement we call them the 1% 'er. 99% of people are good, law abiding people. I'm talking about the 1% who are not. They will steal your car, break into your home, rob you, rape you, beat you up, stick an ice pick in your eye, and cut off your head. Not nice people.
If you have lived a sheltered life, you will not recognize this 1% of people when you see them in the wild. If you fall victim to this 1% of society, you will not only suffer physical injury, you will also suffer psychological injury. Because, you just can't believe that a person could be so mean as to beat the shit out of you and take your wallet. I mean really how could they.
If we look to the animal kingdom, the antelope know not to go too close to where the lions are hanging out. It's not because the antelope mothers wouldn't allow them to watch the lions on TV, it's because they saw other antelope taken down and eaten. It probably took only one time to see it and they got the point. Stay a healthy distance from the lions and be just a little bit faster than the antelope standing next to you.
So, my point is. Educate your child about violence and bad people. MMA is a combat sport. It won't rot your brain or turn you into a serial killer. There is far more violent programming on television than MMA. Practically, everything on the Lifetime network is more violent. Their programming almost always ends with some woman killing her husband that was leading a double life. I've yet to see an MMA event end in a shooting. I'm sure this lovely British woman, who tried to verbally rear naked choke my friend, indirectly exposes her children to more violent programming. Actually, by lecturing the wrong person she could have exposed her children to witnessing her get her ass kicked.
Talk to your children. Explain to them what happens in the real world. Teach them self-defense, but don't turn them into a bully. Get them ready for life.
