My friend Greg Ellifretz recently reminded me of this article I wrote a decade ago. I think it’s still valid.
Notice the photos. There’s no reason to be casting your eyes downward to your smartphone when you can just hold it up in front of your face and retain your scan of what’s around you while you’re reading.
This is a fantastic reminder to remain alert.
My fiance (now my bride of +34 years) were walking between 6th Ave and 5th Ave in NYC one summer day after lunch. We knew the city well; she lived there and I was visiting weekly for business.
The street we walked along did not have any shop fronts, it was the back loading area for the two parallel streets. This was in midtown and it was not a very dangerous area, but still NYC.
We were walking east, on the south side of the street. I saw 3 tough guys turn onto the street from 5th ave on the north side of the street. They were about 120′ away when the leader looked at us and gave a nod to his friends. One crossed the street in front of us and started walking towards us. The other ran west down the north side of the street and I saw him cross about 75′ behind us. The leader walked diagonally across the street directly towards us. I told my fiance not to move and be ready to run into the loading dock near us and yell for help when I told her.
I looked towards the leader, unbuttoned my suit jacket and placed my 4 fingers on my centerline, suggesting I had a gun. All I had was a folding knife.
This surprised the tough guy and he whistled for his buddies to break off. They jogged down the street on the north side with him yelling ‘mf’er’ at us several times.
Mas, some people have told me that those who carry weapons for self-defense are living in a hysterical state of fear. I do so wonder about people who don’t seem to understand the differences among awareness, fear, varied experience with consequences of dangerous situations, justifiable violence, a merciful attitude, willingness to act as a sheepdog, the great value of consciously maintaining a continuous attitude of prayer and gratitude, and a few other basic things. I like the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset, famous for writing “The Rebellion of the Masses.” He describes a personal nobility that is not genetically inherited, but can be achieved through striving to do our best in life, yielding a state of disinterested personal peace that is free from a contentious, jungle, dog-eat-dog mindset that is too frequently common. A nobility that is free of fearful attitudes that create their own difficulties. Ortega and Benedetto Croce are authors that to my mind have a lot in common with Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper and Clint Smith in helping us to create a safe mental space for defending ourselves and ours within Christian principles, where one is least likely to be an enemy of oneself, while being most competent to act in emergencies, so that we and a better world survive.
Great advice MAs. and also great story Shaun. Smart move for sure.
It is much better for your spine too when you hold the phone in front of your face. Be an exclamation point, not a question mark ⁉️