Thought for the Week (September 25th 2000)
 David Baker,
Denshi/Shihan
Midtown Karate Dojo

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It's important to set strategy ahead of time. Plan what you would do in a given scenario. 

Determine how best to avoid a potentially lethal confrontation. How best to exit should it escalate from the verbal. 

Under what circumstances and when would you use force. What techniques to use in a given scenario. When and how to stop using force after neutralizing one's 
opponent. 

How best to contact authorities after defending oneself and what to tell them, what not to tell them. How to protect yourself legally from the attacker or his estate after the fight. 

How to cultivate the available witnesses on the scene and insure that they saw the incident the way you saw 
it and convince them to recount it that way to the police. 

How to handle any media contact after the incident. How to handle incarceration should you be held. Etc.

These are all choices that only you can make. Plan these things ahead of time. Have fun strategizing, but, in the end, realize that you can not possibly foresee all circumstances.

 
Know that the real thing will not follow your visualization exactly. Therefore, give yourself latitude in your reaction. Don't lock yourself into a given response. Don't "promise" yourself that if "x" happens, you will necessarily do "y". The real confrontation will probably be different than 
you imagined.

The knife, instead of coming at you from the front, may be put to your throat from behind. Rather than confronting you directly, the attacker may instead grab and threaten a loved one.

Keep your head clear and think. Stay calm. Manage the adrenaline dump. However, if and when the fight happens, react instinctively. Be aggressive. Use that adrenaline. Finish him quickly. 

That's why you've spent countless 
hours honing kata and yakusoku kumite and bunkai and one-step sparring Plan. But stay flexible when it comes time to fight.

Domo arigato gozaimasu,
David Baker,
Denshi/Shihan
Midtown Karate Dojo