I thought this was the funniest promo video for a church guest speaker I've ever seen. Let me know what you think.
Showing posts with label martial arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martial arts. Show all posts
Friday, July 22, 2011
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Setting the record straight
As a martial arts and self-defense instructor, I am continually surprised at a number of the myths that people present as facts.
One of the newer myths that some men are attempting to perpetuate, without any sort of proof (because there is none) is that women are just as violent as men, and that women abuse their spouses as often or more often than men do. I just ran across this on the Bayly Blog:
A quick Google search turned up the following:
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, between 1998 and 2002:
In a 1995-1996 study conducted in the 50 States and the District of Columbia, nearly 25% of women and 7.6% of men were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or dating partner/acquaintance at some time in their lifetime (based on survey of 16,000 participants, equally male and female).
The National Women's Study, a three-year longitudinal study of a national probability sample of 4,008 adult women (2,008 of whom represent a cross section of all adult women and 2,000 of whom are an over sample of younger women between the ages of 18 and 34), found:
11% of lesbians reported violence by their female partner and 15% of gay men who had lived with a male partner reported being victimized by a male partner.
Physical Injury and Medical Treatment
[from the American Institute on Domestic Violence]
I have no idea what "violence and victims literature" Tim Bayly is referring to, since he does not actually cite any, but this unnamed "literature" cannot be credible if it contradicts the most reliable sources.
As for the article referenced in the Bayly Blog: What sort of man, instead of calling the police, instead of leaving his wife, would sign "a contract with his wife that entitles her to attack him once a week"? Why not sign a contract that entitling him to live free of attack from her? Why not go to her kung fu sifu and demand that she not be allowed to misuse her martial arts? Something about this story is very fishy indeed...almost as fishy as the unsubstantiated statements Tim Bayly makes about domestic violence.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
One of the newer myths that some men are attempting to perpetuate, without any sort of proof (because there is none) is that women are just as violent as men, and that women abuse their spouses as often or more often than men do. I just ran across this on the Bayly Blog:
The violence and victims literature tells us women are every bit as violent as men, and lesbian couples are the most violent of all. Even when asked to report on prior heterosexual relationships, lesbians report their present homosexual relationship to be more violent than any prior heterosexual relationship.No footnotes, of course.
A quick Google search turned up the following:
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, between 1998 and 2002:
- Of the almost 3.5 million violent crimes committed against family members, 49% of these were crimes against spouses.
- 84% of spouse abuse victims were females, and 86% of victims of dating partner abuse at were female.
- Males were 83% of spouse murderers and 75% of dating partner murderers
- 50% of offenders in state prison for spousal abuse had killed their victims. Wives were more likely than husbands to be killed by their spouses: wives were about half of all spouses in the population in 2002, but 81% of all persons killed by their spouse.
Matthew R. Durose et al., U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 207846, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Family Violence Statistics: Including Statistics on Strangers and Acquaintances, at 31-32 (2005), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fvs.pdf
In a 1995-1996 study conducted in the 50 States and the District of Columbia, nearly 25% of women and 7.6% of men were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or dating partner/acquaintance at some time in their lifetime (based on survey of 16,000 participants, equally male and female).
Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 181867, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence, at iii (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/181867.htmSexual Assault According to the National Violence Against Women Survey:
- Women are more likely to be victims of sexual violence than men: 78% of the victims of rape and sexual assault are women and 22% are men.
- Most perpetrators of sexual violence are men. Among acts of sexual violence committed against women since the age of 18, 100% of rapes, 92% of physical assaults, and 97% of stalking acts were perpetrated by men. Sexual violence against men is also mainly male violence: 70% of rapes, 86% of physical assaults, and 65% of stalking acts were perpetrated by men.
- In 8 out of 10 rape cases, the victim knows the perpetrator. Of people who report sexual violence, 64% of women and 16% of men were raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by an intimate partner. This includes a current or former spouse, cohabitating partner, boyfriend/girlfriend, or date.
Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 183781, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, at iv (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/183781.htm
- Another national survey found that 34% of women were victims of sexual coercion by a husband or intimate partner in their lifetime.
Kathleen C. Basile, Prevalence of Wife Rape and Other Intimate Partner Sexual Coercion in a Nationally Representative Sample of Women, 17 Violence and Victims 511 (2002).
The National Women's Study, a three-year longitudinal study of a national probability sample of 4,008 adult women (2,008 of whom represent a cross section of all adult women and 2,000 of whom are an over sample of younger women between the ages of 18 and 34), found:
- 13% of adult women had been victims of completed rape during their lifetime
- 22% of rape victims were assaulted by someone they had never seen before or did not know well.
- 9% of victims were raped by husbands or ex-husbands.
- 11% were raped by fathers or stepfathers.
- 10% were raped by boyfriends or ex-boyfriends.
- 16% were raped by other relatives.
- 29% were raped by other non-relatives, such as friends and neighbors.
See Dean G. Kilpatrick et al., Rape in America: A Report to the Nation (1992); Heidi S. Resnick et al., Prevalence of Civilian Trauma and PTSD in a Representative National Sample of Women, 61 J. of Consulting and Clinical Psychol. 984 (1993); Dean G. Kilpatrick et al., A 2-Year Longitudinal Analysis of the Relationship Between Violent Assault and Substance Use in Women, 65 J. of Consulting and Clinical Psychol. 834 (1997); Kilpatrick et al., Rape, Other Violence Against Women, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Critical Issues in Assessing the Adversity-Stress-Psychopathology Relationship, in Adversity, Stress, & Psychopathology 161-176 (Bruce P. Dohrenwend ed., 1998); Dean G. Kilpatrick, Rape and Sexual Assault, Aug. 7, 2006, http://www.musc.edu/vawprevention/research/sa.shtml
11% of lesbians reported violence by their female partner and 15% of gay men who had lived with a male partner reported being victimized by a male partner.
Patricia Tjaden, Symposium on Integrating Responses to Domestic Violence: Extent and Nature of Intimate Partner Violence as measured by the National Violence Against Women Survey, 47 Loy. L. Rev. 41, 54 (2003).
- One survey found that same-sex cohabitants reported significantly more intimate partner violence than did opposite-sex cohabitants. Among women, 39.2% of the same-sex cohabitants and 21.7 of the opposite- sex cohabitants reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked by a marital/cohabiting partner at some time in their lifetime.
Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 181867, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, at 30 (2000), available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/181867.htm
- 15.4% of same-sex cohabiting men reported being raped, physically assaulted and/or stalked by a male partner, but 10.8% reported such violence by a female partner.
Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 181867, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, at 30 (2000), available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/181867.htm
Physical Injury and Medical Treatment
- The U.S. Department of Justice reported that 37% of all women who sought care in hospital emergency rooms for violence-related injuries were injured by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend.
Michael R. Rand, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 156921, Violence-Related Injuries Treated in Hospital Emergency Departments, (1997) available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/vrithed.txt
- Women are significantly more likely than men to be injured during an assault: 31.5% of female rape victims, compared with 16.1% of male rape victims, reported being injured during their most recent rape, and 39-42% percent of female physical assault victims, compared with 20-25% of male physical assault victims, reported being injured during their most recent physical assault.
- 35.6% of the women injured during their most recent rape and 30.2% of the women injured during their most recent physical assault received medical treatment. Approximately 21.5% of male victims of intimate partner physical assaults that resulted in an injury sought medical treatment.
Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 183781, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, at iv (2000) available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/183781.htm; Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 181867, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, at iv (2000), available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/181867.htm
Panagiota V. Caralis & Regina Musialowski, Women's Experiences with Domestic Violence and Their Attitudes and Expectations Regarding Medical Care of Abuse Victims, 90 S. Med. J. 1075 (1997); Jeanne McCauley et al., Inside 'Pandora's Box': Abused Women's Experiences with Clinicians and Health Services, 13 Archives of Internal Med. 549 (1998); Lawrence S. Friedman et al., Inquiry About Victimization Experiences: A Survey of Patient Preferences and Physician Practices, 152 Archives of Internal Med. (1992); Michael Rodriguez et al., Breaking the Silence: Battered Women's Perspectives on Medical Care, 5 Archives of Fam. Med. 153 (1996).
From: "Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, U.S. Department of Justice, March, 1998"
Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend each year to 4 million women who are physically abused by their husbands or live-in partners each year.
While women are less likely than men to be victims of violent crimes overall, women are 5 to 8 times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner.
Violence by an intimate partner accounts for about 21% of violent crime experienced by women and about 2 % of the violence experienced by men.
31,260 women were murdered by an intimate from 1976-1996.
Females accounted for 39% of the hospital emergency department visits for violence-related injuries in 1994 but 84% of the persons treated for injuries inflicted by intimates.
| Over 500,00 women are stalked by an intimate partner each year. |
| 5.3 million women are abused each year. |
1,232 women are killed each year by an intimate partner. |
| Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women. |
| Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger. |
I have no idea what "violence and victims literature" Tim Bayly is referring to, since he does not actually cite any, but this unnamed "literature" cannot be credible if it contradicts the most reliable sources.
As for the article referenced in the Bayly Blog: What sort of man, instead of calling the police, instead of leaving his wife, would sign "a contract with his wife that entitles her to attack him once a week"? Why not sign a contract that entitling him to live free of attack from her? Why not go to her kung fu sifu and demand that she not be allowed to misuse her martial arts? Something about this story is very fishy indeed...almost as fishy as the unsubstantiated statements Tim Bayly makes about domestic violence.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Long overdue update
Yes, it's been a long time since I've posted. Here's just a little of what's been going on:
1. I still drink coffee.
2. We've been going through some...er...interesting times in our family.
3. Jesus truly is Lord...and a faithful Friend like no other. He keeps His promise to never leave us nor forsake us.
4. My marriage is all the more precious to me during some current rough times, especially as my husband has had a season of ill health.
5. I still teach martial arts.
6. Mothering doesn't become easier when the children leave home. It's different, less hands on, but sometimes more heartbreaking.
7. Twitter can take up a lot of time, but it's also a great way to follow current events, trends, etc.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
1. I still drink coffee.
2. We've been going through some...er...interesting times in our family.
3. Jesus truly is Lord...and a faithful Friend like no other. He keeps His promise to never leave us nor forsake us.
4. My marriage is all the more precious to me during some current rough times, especially as my husband has had a season of ill health.
5. I still teach martial arts.
6. Mothering doesn't become easier when the children leave home. It's different, less hands on, but sometimes more heartbreaking.
7. Twitter can take up a lot of time, but it's also a great way to follow current events, trends, etc.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Voting for the future
One of the somewhat odd side effects of training in the martial arts is that I started watching movies and TV shows I would have previously avoided. So it was that "Walker, Texas Ranger" became regular fare for my husband and me, despite the fact that I thought Chuck Norris wasn't much of an actor, and I found the plots repetitive and predictable. But the good guys were good, and the bad guys were very bad, and my instructor was known to call people in the middle of the show and quiz them along the lines of, "Did you see what Chuck Norris did to that guy? Do you think he stole that technique from us?" To which I was always tempted to reply, "He certainly didn't steal the put-away-your-gun-so-you-can-do-a-jumping-spinning-flying-kick technique from us."
But I digress.
I have yet more connections with Chuck Norris, besides watching his TV show and having an instructor who has met him on more than one occasion:
1. Once upon a time, while working a summer job at a car dealership, I saw Chuck Norris walk away from the cashier's window on the way to pick up the car he had just had serviced.
2. Chuck Norris and I shared a pastor. Of course, Chuck Norris knew Pastor Kuester quite a number of years before I did, and I had no idea of this connection until I read Against All Odds.
3. We're both martial artists.
So, we're practically best buds. Despite that, I hardly keep up with what he says and writes. So someone else had to draw the following to my attention: "I'm Voting for Those Not Yet Born".
Whether or not you're a Chuck Norris fan, you should read the article. There's a lot more to Mr. Norris than just punching and kicking. A lot more.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
But I digress.
I have yet more connections with Chuck Norris, besides watching his TV show and having an instructor who has met him on more than one occasion:
1. Once upon a time, while working a summer job at a car dealership, I saw Chuck Norris walk away from the cashier's window on the way to pick up the car he had just had serviced.
2. Chuck Norris and I shared a pastor. Of course, Chuck Norris knew Pastor Kuester quite a number of years before I did, and I had no idea of this connection until I read Against All Odds.
3. We're both martial artists.
So, we're practically best buds. Despite that, I hardly keep up with what he says and writes. So someone else had to draw the following to my attention: "I'm Voting for Those Not Yet Born".
Whether or not you're a Chuck Norris fan, you should read the article. There's a lot more to Mr. Norris than just punching and kicking. A lot more.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Update
So, what have I been up to lately? Here's the scoop:
1. On the weight loss and fitness front: Things have not gone as well as planned. My weight has kept bobbing up and down by about three pounds. I've reached 127 pounds today, but doubt that I'll make my goal in two days. Life has been insanely busy and I've not had the time to exercise.
2. I wasn't insanely busy enough, so I decided to put on a karate tournament. It's going to be this Saturday. I am simply shocked at the amount of work involved, and that's with my capable army of volunteers.
3. Since it's simply not enough to try to juggle karate tournaments on top of my already busy life, I decided to get sick. I'm not hideously, bed-ridden type sick, just enough to lose sleep and stay out on the couch because of an annoying cough.
4. I've had all sorts of ideas for posts, but have promptly forgotten them due to being tired, busy, etc.
So that's pretty much what life has been like around here.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
1. On the weight loss and fitness front: Things have not gone as well as planned. My weight has kept bobbing up and down by about three pounds. I've reached 127 pounds today, but doubt that I'll make my goal in two days. Life has been insanely busy and I've not had the time to exercise.
2. I wasn't insanely busy enough, so I decided to put on a karate tournament. It's going to be this Saturday. I am simply shocked at the amount of work involved, and that's with my capable army of volunteers.
3. Since it's simply not enough to try to juggle karate tournaments on top of my already busy life, I decided to get sick. I'm not hideously, bed-ridden type sick, just enough to lose sleep and stay out on the couch because of an annoying cough.
4. I've had all sorts of ideas for posts, but have promptly forgotten them due to being tired, busy, etc.
So that's pretty much what life has been like around here.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
This morning
Several of us bloggers have decided to hold ourselves accountable to our "public" as a means of motivating us to become better stewards of the bodies God has entrusted into our care. I'd encourage anyone who needs improvement in this area to join us!
When the alarm rang this morning, it jolted me out of a deep sleep, to the point that I actually felt disoriented and wondered, "What is that horrible sound?" Several late nights of falling asleep while watching the Olympics are, I'm afraid, taking their toll.
But I only languished in bed for about five minutes. Then I was up and rarin' to go. Well, not exactly. I was up, at least.
The laptop jumped out and demanded my attention on my way to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. But I fought it off until I was eating my oatmeal. Look, I'm multi-tasking, I insisted to myself. See how efficient I am.
But it was all a fiendish ploy. One email and one blog led to another. Finally I came to my senses and screamed, "Get behind me, you satanic computer!" and rushed out the door.
So I wasn't exactly on time for my morning workout, but I wasn't hideously late, either. Just late.
I warmed up with Prevention Magazine's "Advanced Interval Walk", which I have on my iPod, connected to a speaker. Only I jazz up the 16-minute workout by jogging during the faster walk intervals and by using an assortment of weights and martial arts weapons to add a little upper body warm-up during the slower intervals.
After that, I was ready to get down to the real workout. The state championships for our tournament circuit is this weekend, so I was working on kata (also known as "forms"). This morning I focused more on the weapons kata --- the main one that I intend to compete with, and the alternate in case I need to run a tie-breaker. But I also trained the empty hand kata that I'm going to run. In between that, I worked on another weapons kata, one that I usually tend to forget to practice. And it showed. Sigh.
Then there were a few exercises thrown in for good measure and I was out of time.
I left feeling good.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
When the alarm rang this morning, it jolted me out of a deep sleep, to the point that I actually felt disoriented and wondered, "What is that horrible sound?" Several late nights of falling asleep while watching the Olympics are, I'm afraid, taking their toll.
But I only languished in bed for about five minutes. Then I was up and rarin' to go. Well, not exactly. I was up, at least.
The laptop jumped out and demanded my attention on my way to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. But I fought it off until I was eating my oatmeal. Look, I'm multi-tasking, I insisted to myself. See how efficient I am.
But it was all a fiendish ploy. One email and one blog led to another. Finally I came to my senses and screamed, "Get behind me, you satanic computer!" and rushed out the door.
So I wasn't exactly on time for my morning workout, but I wasn't hideously late, either. Just late.
I warmed up with Prevention Magazine's "Advanced Interval Walk", which I have on my iPod, connected to a speaker. Only I jazz up the 16-minute workout by jogging during the faster walk intervals and by using an assortment of weights and martial arts weapons to add a little upper body warm-up during the slower intervals.
After that, I was ready to get down to the real workout. The state championships for our tournament circuit is this weekend, so I was working on kata (also known as "forms"). This morning I focused more on the weapons kata --- the main one that I intend to compete with, and the alternate in case I need to run a tie-breaker. But I also trained the empty hand kata that I'm going to run. In between that, I worked on another weapons kata, one that I usually tend to forget to practice. And it showed. Sigh.
Then there were a few exercises thrown in for good measure and I was out of time.
I left feeling good.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Finding time for fitness
It's not easy.
Back when I first started working out at the gym, I was so desperate to stop gaining weight and to start feeling less exhausted and decrepit, that I was willing to revamp my entire life. The only way I could fit in exercise, what with the Stair-Step Brigade needing near constant attention, was to work out early enough in the morning so that I would be home before Youngest Child would awaken and begin clamoring for me. My husband, to put it mildly, is not exactly a morning person. The last thing he wanted was for his mornings to start any earlier than 8:00, especially if it meant having to deal with a ravenous toddler who wasn't always Mr. Sunshine upon rising.
The gym was a 20 minute drive away. I needed to get home as close to 6:30 am as possible. That meant I had to leave the gym by about 6:10 at the latest. If I wanted an hour workout, I had to be on the way to the gym by 4:50. After a couple months, I began showing up at the gym right around their opening time of 4:30, just so that I could get in a full workout (weights, cardio, etc.) and be home in time to spare my husband from Ravenous, Fussy Toddler.
I don't know how I managed it. For one, I went to bed much earlier than I do now. My life was a lot less complicated. Now, the idea of staggering out of the house at 4:10 am seems impossible and almost horrific. And do it three to four days per week? Ha!
These days, I struggle to get to the dojo, only 3 minutes away, by 6:00 am. I find myself making excuses for not getting out of bed when the alarm rings. Once I'm up, all sorts of things seem to beckon for my attention. I make excuses --- I'll just skip my workout this morning! After all, I already spend so much time at the dojo! Ah, I must remind myself, spending time teaching is not the same as spending time exercising.
This morning I arrived at the dojo over an hour later than I had planned. But I did get in a good workout, beginning with the dreaded push-up torture regimen. And, after tonight's classes, I even got in a mini-workout. So I'm feeling good.
Maybe tomorrow I'll actually get there on time!
Post contains minor edits to remove odd ambiguities.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Back when I first started working out at the gym, I was so desperate to stop gaining weight and to start feeling less exhausted and decrepit, that I was willing to revamp my entire life. The only way I could fit in exercise, what with the Stair-Step Brigade needing near constant attention, was to work out early enough in the morning so that I would be home before Youngest Child would awaken and begin clamoring for me. My husband, to put it mildly, is not exactly a morning person. The last thing he wanted was for his mornings to start any earlier than 8:00, especially if it meant having to deal with a ravenous toddler who wasn't always Mr. Sunshine upon rising.
The gym was a 20 minute drive away. I needed to get home as close to 6:30 am as possible. That meant I had to leave the gym by about 6:10 at the latest. If I wanted an hour workout, I had to be on the way to the gym by 4:50. After a couple months, I began showing up at the gym right around their opening time of 4:30, just so that I could get in a full workout (weights, cardio, etc.) and be home in time to spare my husband from Ravenous, Fussy Toddler.
I don't know how I managed it. For one, I went to bed much earlier than I do now. My life was a lot less complicated. Now, the idea of staggering out of the house at 4:10 am seems impossible and almost horrific. And do it three to four days per week? Ha!
These days, I struggle to get to the dojo, only 3 minutes away, by 6:00 am. I find myself making excuses for not getting out of bed when the alarm rings. Once I'm up, all sorts of things seem to beckon for my attention. I make excuses --- I'll just skip my workout this morning! After all, I already spend so much time at the dojo! Ah, I must remind myself, spending time teaching is not the same as spending time exercising.
This morning I arrived at the dojo over an hour later than I had planned. But I did get in a good workout, beginning with the dreaded push-up torture regimen. And, after tonight's classes, I even got in a mini-workout. So I'm feeling good.
Maybe tomorrow I'll actually get there on time!
Post contains minor edits to remove odd ambiguities.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
The 100 push-up challenge
Thanks to Kat, I found out about the Hundred Push-ups Challenge. On Friday, I finished my second week.
The program starts out by having you test how many push-ups you can do. To be honest, I'm ashamed of how few I am able to do. For the past 4-5 years, I've had ongoing troubling bouts of biceps tendinitis and related shoulder pain, and for about half of that time, I've been forbidden by a physical therapist to do push-ups because of the strain it was putting on my shoulder.
So, alas, all I could crank out was 18 push-ups. To my defense, I have to say that they were in good form. And what is a good push-up? Here is the description from the challenge website:
Instructions for "good-form" push ups
Lie prone on the ground with hands placed as wide or slightly wider than shoulder width. Keeping the body straight, lower body to the ground by bending arms at the elbows. Raise body up off the ground by extending the arms. Repeat.Body weight should be lifted by the arms; don't be tempted to use your butt, stomach or the lower half of your body to pull yourself up. To maintain correct body alignment, imagine a straight line running from your head down to your ankles.
And, from an Army basic training website:
Tips: Kneel down on the floor and place your hands flat on the floor and slightly wider than shoulder width apart. With your shoulders directly over your hands, straighten your arms. Move your feet back, placing your toes on the floor, so that your knees are off the floor and your legs are straight. At this point, your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. Your body should remain straight throughout this exercise. Keep your head and neck in line with your body so that your are looking down toward the floor. This is the starting position. In a controlled fashion, lower your body down toward the floor, bending your elbows, until your body is nearly touching the floor. Now, push your body up away from the floor, straightening your arms, until you have returned to the starting position. If you need to reduce the intensity of this exercise you can perform the pushup from your knees.
In our martial arts classes, we require that students not only keep their bodies straight, but that their heads be either in line with or above their shoulders. Arms need to be bent at least 90 degrees, with the chest coming close to the floor.
I can --- and do --- demonstrate good push-up form in class, but I can't keep it up for very long. So I jumped at the idea of the push-up challenge. I've tried various push-up regimens in the past, but this one seemed quite doable, and didn't involve lots of time or push-ups scattered throughout the day.
By the end of the first week, I was somewhat sore. By last week, the push-ups I was doing seemed easier, even though I've been working out on the heavy bag a lot more and expected my upper body muscles to be more easily fatigued.
I would encourage everyone to take on the challenge. If you haven't done "real push-ups" in years, the website suggests modifications to make them easier. There's no reason not to get started!
Monday, June 30, 2008
The coffee cup
Here's the promised story, abbreviated and somewhat boring, about the coffee cup graphic in my blog title.
Sometimes, when I dream the seemingly impossible for long enough, I add details to the dream that can range from meaningful to downright silly. "Someday, if I ever have a bunch of kids, I'll get a big white van and we'll go off on adventures together..." "Someday, if I ever live in a two story house, I'll get one of those nifty basket thingies for the bottom of the stairs..."
And so it was with the dreams of "our own dojo". We dreamed a lot together about how we would teach and what sorts of extra classes we would offer and how we would organize the curriculum. But there were some silly things that attached themselves, ever so slightly, to what I was dreaming, insignificant things really...things I never dared mention because they were so trivial.
But then, after five years of teaching at our church, and after moving three times until we finally settled into our current wonderful location, we turned not just the big dreams into reality --- a reality even better than the dreams --- but we also turned some of the silly, trivial semi-dreams into reality as well.
And one of those was coffee in the dojo. We don't just have a coffee maker, a clone of the Bunn single serve coffee maker I have at home, but we also have an esspresso maker. And you know what? I can't imagine a dojo without one. At least not my dojo.
So I have my little rituals. Often I reward myself for my 6:00 a.m. private workout or my 6:00 a.m. women's fitness class with a nice cappuccino afterwards. That's also my drink of choice during belt tests; as I joke, the testing panel should be comfortable and enjoying themselves while the students aren't.
So one morning, I found myself taking pictures of my delicious cappuccino on the "sensei bench" next to my black belt. (There was a particular purpose I had in mind for this picture, but this story is already long and tedious enough.)
Yesterday, as I was looking for images for my blog header, it seemed that this particular picture, edited a bit, was exactly right. If you look closely, you can see a bit of my black belt in the shadows to the right of the cup.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Sometimes, when I dream the seemingly impossible for long enough, I add details to the dream that can range from meaningful to downright silly. "Someday, if I ever have a bunch of kids, I'll get a big white van and we'll go off on adventures together..." "Someday, if I ever live in a two story house, I'll get one of those nifty basket thingies for the bottom of the stairs..."
And so it was with the dreams of "our own dojo". We dreamed a lot together about how we would teach and what sorts of extra classes we would offer and how we would organize the curriculum. But there were some silly things that attached themselves, ever so slightly, to what I was dreaming, insignificant things really...things I never dared mention because they were so trivial.
But then, after five years of teaching at our church, and after moving three times until we finally settled into our current wonderful location, we turned not just the big dreams into reality --- a reality even better than the dreams --- but we also turned some of the silly, trivial semi-dreams into reality as well.
And one of those was coffee in the dojo. We don't just have a coffee maker, a clone of the Bunn single serve coffee maker I have at home, but we also have an esspresso maker. And you know what? I can't imagine a dojo without one. At least not my dojo.
So I have my little rituals. Often I reward myself for my 6:00 a.m. private workout or my 6:00 a.m. women's fitness class with a nice cappuccino afterwards. That's also my drink of choice during belt tests; as I joke, the testing panel should be comfortable and enjoying themselves while the students aren't.
So one morning, I found myself taking pictures of my delicious cappuccino on the "sensei bench" next to my black belt. (There was a particular purpose I had in mind for this picture, but this story is already long and tedious enough.)
Yesterday, as I was looking for images for my blog header, it seemed that this particular picture, edited a bit, was exactly right. If you look closely, you can see a bit of my black belt in the shadows to the right of the cup.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Oh, the scandal! Call the hyper-modesty police!
Sometimes the best way to handle legalism is to laugh at it. Well, maybe not. But a sense of humor can help keep you from going crazy.
It dawned on me this morning when I was showing my new blog look to my daughter: I never would have done a blog like this before my fall to grace. For one thing, even though I would enjoy coffee when I wasn't pregnant or nursing a tiny little one (which meant coffee became a semi-rare treat!) I didn't really ENJOY coffee like I do now. In fact, I didn't think it quite right to do too much enjoying of anything, other than my husband and children and a clean house, lest my enjoyment become excessive, fleshly, or smack of idolatry.
But the real scandal is my profile picture. I'm sure some visitors to my blog will be offended, while others will no doubt exclaim, "AHA! I knew it!"
As you can tell, I'm not wearing a skirt. What you may not be able to tell is that I'm wearing a sleeveless top. To add insult to injury, I'm punching a bag. How unfeminine of me.
Actually I would beg to differ. I think it's quite feminine of me. I've done enough teaching of and training with both men and women to notice that women seem especially appreciative of punching the bags, especially the new heavy bags we've installed in our dojo. They derive actual pleasure from kicking and smacking those hard, 100 pound bags around. They tend to do it with far more gusto than the typical man.
In fact, I've noticed that my women students take their martial arts training more seriously, while at the same time having far more fun with it, than my male students. This might be because the men have a harder time identifying with me as their role model. But I think what plays a bigger role is that my women students take self-defense more seriously while taking themselves less seriously. The women also seem far more empowered by the whole training experience; for some of them, it's the first time in their adult lives that they have felt physically capable.
Women will encourage each other when their technique becomes more effective and powerful. "Wow, that kick would have stopped anyone trying to attack you!" they'll say. Or, "No one's going to mess with your kids once they know you can do that!" Some of these women have already tasted violence very up close and personal. If not, they have friends who have been attacked and assaulted. To them, martial arts seem a most fittingly feminine solution to the violence they are all too aware exists.
But that doesn't mean you get to train in skirts. Some years back, when I was helping to teach a class for homeschoolers, one family got very upset that I wouldn't let their daughters wear dresses in class. "We are concerned about modesty!" fussed the mother.
"So am I," was my answer, "and that's why I won't let your daughters kick, learn how to fall correctly, and do judo rolls in dresses. It's way too immodest, and unsafe besides."
Somehow our baggy karate uniforms were not modest enough for this woman. She would rather have her daughters expose their legs and more while their dresses flapped around and hindered their safe movements. She decided that if we were going to be so hard-nosed about it, she was going to find a "more modest and godly" martial arts school. I doubt that she did.
So, yes...I'm wearing baggy workout pants in my profile picture. I happen to be wearing a workout top rather than my usual uniform top. I'm punching a bag. Some may find this a cause for great alarm. It doesn't fit their narrow constricted view of how a godly woman should dress and act.
So...sound the alarm, ladies! Gossip amongst yourselves! Post to your blogs and to your closed forums about the scandal of it all!
In the meantime, I'll be doing what my hands find to do, with all my might, for the Lord. I'll relish my freedom in Christ. And I'll continue to allow Him to use me to impact the lives He has sent my way, those students who want to learn what I am blessed to teach. And I'll dress appropriately while doing so. After all, it's the modest thing to do.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
It dawned on me this morning when I was showing my new blog look to my daughter: I never would have done a blog like this before my fall to grace. For one thing, even though I would enjoy coffee when I wasn't pregnant or nursing a tiny little one (which meant coffee became a semi-rare treat!) I didn't really ENJOY coffee like I do now. In fact, I didn't think it quite right to do too much enjoying of anything, other than my husband and children and a clean house, lest my enjoyment become excessive, fleshly, or smack of idolatry.
But the real scandal is my profile picture. I'm sure some visitors to my blog will be offended, while others will no doubt exclaim, "AHA! I knew it!"
As you can tell, I'm not wearing a skirt. What you may not be able to tell is that I'm wearing a sleeveless top. To add insult to injury, I'm punching a bag. How unfeminine of me.
Actually I would beg to differ. I think it's quite feminine of me. I've done enough teaching of and training with both men and women to notice that women seem especially appreciative of punching the bags, especially the new heavy bags we've installed in our dojo. They derive actual pleasure from kicking and smacking those hard, 100 pound bags around. They tend to do it with far more gusto than the typical man.
In fact, I've noticed that my women students take their martial arts training more seriously, while at the same time having far more fun with it, than my male students. This might be because the men have a harder time identifying with me as their role model. But I think what plays a bigger role is that my women students take self-defense more seriously while taking themselves less seriously. The women also seem far more empowered by the whole training experience; for some of them, it's the first time in their adult lives that they have felt physically capable.
Women will encourage each other when their technique becomes more effective and powerful. "Wow, that kick would have stopped anyone trying to attack you!" they'll say. Or, "No one's going to mess with your kids once they know you can do that!" Some of these women have already tasted violence very up close and personal. If not, they have friends who have been attacked and assaulted. To them, martial arts seem a most fittingly feminine solution to the violence they are all too aware exists.
But that doesn't mean you get to train in skirts. Some years back, when I was helping to teach a class for homeschoolers, one family got very upset that I wouldn't let their daughters wear dresses in class. "We are concerned about modesty!" fussed the mother.
"So am I," was my answer, "and that's why I won't let your daughters kick, learn how to fall correctly, and do judo rolls in dresses. It's way too immodest, and unsafe besides."
Somehow our baggy karate uniforms were not modest enough for this woman. She would rather have her daughters expose their legs and more while their dresses flapped around and hindered their safe movements. She decided that if we were going to be so hard-nosed about it, she was going to find a "more modest and godly" martial arts school. I doubt that she did.
So, yes...I'm wearing baggy workout pants in my profile picture. I happen to be wearing a workout top rather than my usual uniform top. I'm punching a bag. Some may find this a cause for great alarm. It doesn't fit their narrow constricted view of how a godly woman should dress and act.
So...sound the alarm, ladies! Gossip amongst yourselves! Post to your blogs and to your closed forums about the scandal of it all!
In the meantime, I'll be doing what my hands find to do, with all my might, for the Lord. I'll relish my freedom in Christ. And I'll continue to allow Him to use me to impact the lives He has sent my way, those students who want to learn what I am blessed to teach. And I'll dress appropriately while doing so. After all, it's the modest thing to do.
This post, along with my entire blog, is copyrighted. Please read and honor the copyright notice at the bottom of the sidebar. Thank you.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Internet identities
I've been part of several online discussions where women have been taken to task for not revealing their names (other than an internet "handle" or nickname), for not revealing their full names, or for not revealing other personal information such as where they lived, what church they attended, the name of their pastor, etc. Usually it's been men who have gotten their knickers all in a twist over a woman not wanting to give out all her personal information, and I've usually cut the men some slack because...well, they just have no idea. (It reminds me of the time that my husband was shocked...I mean SHOCKED!...to discover that there was no honor code among criminal sorts and that mothers with babies were not safe from harm.)
Usually when I've explained internet safety in these discussions, the men have --- sometimes very reluctantly --- come to see that there is great wisdom in women not revealing their names and personal information online.
Back when I was brand, spanking new online, I was advised by some of my friends who were internet savvy that the safest approach was to adopt a gender-neutral "handle" and avoid disclosing anything of a personal nature. So that's what I did. However, that led to some humorous email exchanges when men in online theological discussions would assume I was also a man and would email me with a hearty "Amen, brother!"
All that came to a screeching halt when I set up my first website in order to provide an online means of distributing a paper that I'd written. Suddenly my name and some personal info was out there for all the world to see.
There has been a real downside to that, and it's one that I would warn women strongly against. Literally within hours of my full name appearing on the internet, I received a horrible, threatening, violently obscene email. Sent anonymously, of course --- but using my full name.
I have received threats since then. I've learned to be wary of "innocent" questions, such as, "What sort of car do you drive with all of your children?" I've had people figure out who my pastor was at the time, and harass him. I've had people email me that they know where we live and that maybe it's not a good idea, if I love my children, to let them play in the front yard. I've received emails telling me that I need to be "stopped permanently", and maybe the email author will take that task upon himself. I've been told that I'm "easy to follow".
So I tried to become anonymous again. My attempts have never worked. Apparently my writing style is so distinctive (odd grammar, constant typos, bizarre punctuation, and use of sayings such as "more than the socially acceptable number of children") that people instantly recognize me and "out" me.
My children are older now. As a family, we have become more public, at least in some arenas. Two of my adult children have their own online presences. I'm less careful than I used to be, back in the day when I removed all photos from my website after the first threat against our family.
It's been a long time since I've received any real threats (other than the usual chest-thumping "Give me your husband's email address" type nonsense that is laughable on so many levels) Maybe it's because we're trained martial artists. Maybe it's because I've posted a picture here and there of one of my sons who looks quite imposing and would prove a formidable opponent to any threatener, especially the out of shape blow-hard types.
BUT...
If I had to do it all over again, I would stay anonymous. I've been extremely blessed --- I can't even be positive that any of those who threatened me actually turned up in person. There were a few times when different guys parked across the street and watched our house. I ran them off. Usually all it took was going out with a clipboard and making a big show of writing down their license plate numbers. (NOTE: Eldest Son was watching from inside, phone in hand, with 911 already punched in.)
However, I know people who have been stalked. I've read the horror stories of online predators. Not every victim survives.
I urge women to stay anonymous online, if at all possible. While I cut some slack to naive men for not understanding basic safety issues, I have far less patience for women who make a big deal out of demanding to know personal information about others. Just because a woman may delight in giving out her full name, posting her family pictures, and being all chatty about every detail of her life does not mean she has the right to demand that of everyone. Just because a woman may be willing to take that sort of risk does not mean she should encourage other women to cast safety aside.
Another warning: I could easily create an online persona, complete with fake name and fake gender, and claim to be anybody I wanted. I could even find some pictures of someone else and post them as my own. People do this ALL THE TIME. Grown men pose as young teenage girls in order to prey on trusting young girls. The person who posts in your favorite online discussions may go by the name of "Tusnelda Jones" all over the internet and may have a blog with pictures purported to be her smiling face --- but that doesn't mean she is who she claims to be. Unless you've met her in person, you should be very careful about answering any of "her" questions --- especially if she's hounding you to post your real name online. And...be very cautious about meeting her in person, no matter how many emails you've exchanged and how well you think you know her.
Be careful out there. Be very careful.
And those of you who have the wisdom to be anonymous online --- don't let anyone pressure you otherwise. Stand firm. Anyone who doesn't respect your privacy and your safety has, in my opinion, no right to know anything about you...and their motives are highly suspect.
Usually when I've explained internet safety in these discussions, the men have --- sometimes very reluctantly --- come to see that there is great wisdom in women not revealing their names and personal information online.
Back when I was brand, spanking new online, I was advised by some of my friends who were internet savvy that the safest approach was to adopt a gender-neutral "handle" and avoid disclosing anything of a personal nature. So that's what I did. However, that led to some humorous email exchanges when men in online theological discussions would assume I was also a man and would email me with a hearty "Amen, brother!"
All that came to a screeching halt when I set up my first website in order to provide an online means of distributing a paper that I'd written. Suddenly my name and some personal info was out there for all the world to see.
There has been a real downside to that, and it's one that I would warn women strongly against. Literally within hours of my full name appearing on the internet, I received a horrible, threatening, violently obscene email. Sent anonymously, of course --- but using my full name.
I have received threats since then. I've learned to be wary of "innocent" questions, such as, "What sort of car do you drive with all of your children?" I've had people figure out who my pastor was at the time, and harass him. I've had people email me that they know where we live and that maybe it's not a good idea, if I love my children, to let them play in the front yard. I've received emails telling me that I need to be "stopped permanently", and maybe the email author will take that task upon himself. I've been told that I'm "easy to follow".
So I tried to become anonymous again. My attempts have never worked. Apparently my writing style is so distinctive (odd grammar, constant typos, bizarre punctuation, and use of sayings such as "more than the socially acceptable number of children") that people instantly recognize me and "out" me.
My children are older now. As a family, we have become more public, at least in some arenas. Two of my adult children have their own online presences. I'm less careful than I used to be, back in the day when I removed all photos from my website after the first threat against our family.
It's been a long time since I've received any real threats (other than the usual chest-thumping "Give me your husband's email address" type nonsense that is laughable on so many levels) Maybe it's because we're trained martial artists. Maybe it's because I've posted a picture here and there of one of my sons who looks quite imposing and would prove a formidable opponent to any threatener, especially the out of shape blow-hard types.
BUT...
If I had to do it all over again, I would stay anonymous. I've been extremely blessed --- I can't even be positive that any of those who threatened me actually turned up in person. There were a few times when different guys parked across the street and watched our house. I ran them off. Usually all it took was going out with a clipboard and making a big show of writing down their license plate numbers. (NOTE: Eldest Son was watching from inside, phone in hand, with 911 already punched in.)
However, I know people who have been stalked. I've read the horror stories of online predators. Not every victim survives.
I urge women to stay anonymous online, if at all possible. While I cut some slack to naive men for not understanding basic safety issues, I have far less patience for women who make a big deal out of demanding to know personal information about others. Just because a woman may delight in giving out her full name, posting her family pictures, and being all chatty about every detail of her life does not mean she has the right to demand that of everyone. Just because a woman may be willing to take that sort of risk does not mean she should encourage other women to cast safety aside.
Another warning: I could easily create an online persona, complete with fake name and fake gender, and claim to be anybody I wanted. I could even find some pictures of someone else and post them as my own. People do this ALL THE TIME. Grown men pose as young teenage girls in order to prey on trusting young girls. The person who posts in your favorite online discussions may go by the name of "Tusnelda Jones" all over the internet and may have a blog with pictures purported to be her smiling face --- but that doesn't mean she is who she claims to be. Unless you've met her in person, you should be very careful about answering any of "her" questions --- especially if she's hounding you to post your real name online. And...be very cautious about meeting her in person, no matter how many emails you've exchanged and how well you think you know her.
Be careful out there. Be very careful.
And those of you who have the wisdom to be anonymous online --- don't let anyone pressure you otherwise. Stand firm. Anyone who doesn't respect your privacy and your safety has, in my opinion, no right to know anything about you...and their motives are highly suspect.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
What a way to start the day
| Thanks to TulipGirl for starting out my day by ruining my appetite! |
You have to check out this interactive map on CNN.com: Obesity in the U.S. It shows, in the most shocking and visual way, how our country has gotten frighteningly more obese since 1985. (That happens to be the year I was married. Hopefully there is not some sort of causal relationship there, although my daughter pointed out that even I have gained weight since my wedding day.)
The church no longer addresses the issue of gluttony. I almost think it would take more courage for a pastor to preach against gluttony than to preach against divorce. A lot of pastors would not touch the topic because they themselves are obviously guilty of that sin.
So many of us are in denial. Our family teaches martial arts and we have been surprised, over the years, at how parents will describe their obese children as "stocky", "having a bit of a belly", or "needing to be a bit more fit". I don't think parents need to tell me, "As you can plainly see, my kid is a tub of lard. Can you help?" But I do think it is ridiculous to claim, "Well, maybe he could lose a pound or two" and to send him off to class with a bag of candy and junk food as a snack.
It is surprising and upsetting to see how many kids look like middle-age adults with big sagging bellies. As parents, we are to blame. It's ridiculous to try to shift the blame on school lunches, when we are the ones feeding our children breakfast, dinner, snacks, etc. --- and we ourselves are getting fatter and fatter.
Recently I read an online discussion where American women were bemoaning the fact that it is so hard to find "plus size" clothing in Europe. "The women here are so ridiculously skinny," one woman wrote. No, I thought. It's that we Americans have become so ridiculously fat.
Look at the map. It's all there, and it's frightening.
For the sake of our children, we need to change. Some of us are. For encouragement, I'd recommend heading over to Mommy Life, where Barbara Curtis has lost 63 pounds! Woo hoo!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Progress
As the new year begins in earnest, I've been working at keeping to my new schedule and my resolutions. My progress isn't quite what I'd hoped, but at least I'm moving forward.
On the workout front, I'm only keeping track of the time I actually spend working out, as opposed to just hanging out at the gym, or taking notes in the dojo, or getting ready to work out, or resting between exercises, or talking, or...avoiding working out. I try not to do that, because my time is limited, but I've found that it's all too easy to get distracted while at the gym or dojo.
Update regarding workout times:
A couple years ago, we decided to encourage a higher level of physical fitness among our martial art students by getting everyone involved in the President's Challenge. Once each week, they would turn in log sheets detailing how much time they had spent exercising, and how vigorous the exercise had been. We, in turn, would log it all on the website.
We began to suspect that our students were overestimating their level of activity when we would read log entries that listed our entire class time as "vigorous exercise". Wait a moment, I had to tell some of our students. First of all, no one spends the whole class time involved in constant physical activity. At the very least, you have to subtract the time spent on the "Sensei Talk" at the end of class, and any other time where you were not actually involved in activity. Also, stretching is hardly vigorous exercise. Neither is watching a sparring match. (What we were too kind and diplomatic to point out is that a beginning white belt who is just learning stances, how to make a fist, and the proper form for the basic kicks usually isn't doing anything "vigorously" by any stretch of the imagination.)
So, with my handy-dandy workout watch, I am trying to avoid any similar pitfalls. If I'm not actually working out, I'm not logging minutes towards my goal.
On the workout front, I'm only keeping track of the time I actually spend working out, as opposed to just hanging out at the gym, or taking notes in the dojo, or getting ready to work out, or resting between exercises, or talking, or...avoiding working out. I try not to do that, because my time is limited, but I've found that it's all too easy to get distracted while at the gym or dojo.
Update regarding workout times:
A couple years ago, we decided to encourage a higher level of physical fitness among our martial art students by getting everyone involved in the President's Challenge. Once each week, they would turn in log sheets detailing how much time they had spent exercising, and how vigorous the exercise had been. We, in turn, would log it all on the website.
We began to suspect that our students were overestimating their level of activity when we would read log entries that listed our entire class time as "vigorous exercise". Wait a moment, I had to tell some of our students. First of all, no one spends the whole class time involved in constant physical activity. At the very least, you have to subtract the time spent on the "Sensei Talk" at the end of class, and any other time where you were not actually involved in activity. Also, stretching is hardly vigorous exercise. Neither is watching a sparring match. (What we were too kind and diplomatic to point out is that a beginning white belt who is just learning stances, how to make a fist, and the proper form for the basic kicks usually isn't doing anything "vigorously" by any stretch of the imagination.)
So, with my handy-dandy workout watch, I am trying to avoid any similar pitfalls. If I'm not actually working out, I'm not logging minutes towards my goal.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Disturbing accusations
We've all heard them by now, the most disturbing accusations of all regarding the Schiavo tragedy:
No one has investigated nor seems to even care that the night that this happened to Terri they had had a huge fight. She had confided to family members and friends that he had become abusive and controlling. She was advised not to go home that night but to spend the night with a girlfriend but she went home. Hours later he called Bob Schindler saying Terri was on the floor hurt. He did not call 911 first.
In recent years, the Schindlers have repeatedly publicly accused Michael of strangling their daughter and the press has reported it widely. This is disturbing if it is true, and disturbing if it is not true.
I'm not sure who allegedly advised her not to go home that night. All I know is that, if I were that person, I would have been at Terri's side---or at least on the phone---first thing the next morning to make sure she was OK. Once I found out that she was in the hospital, unresponsive, I would have been in contact with the police immediately, filing a report. I would have been at the hospital, pointing out the marks of strangulation that every doctor and nurse mysteriously missed. I would have told the Schindlers everything I knew. I would not have been silent for a moment.
But that's not what happened. Instead, no mention of strangling and abuse was raised until years later. In the meantime, Michael called the Schindlers "Mom" and "Dad"; they cared for Terri together; they even moved in together. Is this how you would treat the person who tried to murder your daughter?
And, during all these years, the person who warned Terri that night remained silent. Perhaps he/she forgot the whole thing. Perhaps he/she was too busy to do or say anything. Perhaps he/she thought it was none of his/her business. I don't know. But, somehow, years later, after the Schindler-Schiavo feuding began, this person came forward and suddently decided to speak out.
If it's true, I'd like to know who this person is and why they hated Terri so much. Because I find such silence and complicity in attempted murder to be hateful.
If it's not true, then the false accuser is immoral beyond words.
But there is another question I cannot shake: if Terry was strangled, why did not one doctor or nurse in the emergency room notice this?
I wonder how many of my readers have ever had someone's hands around their throats in an attempt to choke them. I have.
My choking story
When I was a brown belt, training for my black belt in the martial arts, I decided to put some of the self-defense techniques I'd learned to the test. Warning: do not try this at home! I would not advise that anyone do what I am about to describe.
I trusted my instructor implicitly. He is a grandmaster, the founder of his own system, and has been teaching publicly for 45 years. Besides, he said he loved me like a daughter. I trusted him with my life and trusted his skills and abilities to do what I was going to ask him to do.
What I asked him to do was to choke me. Of course, I wanted to survive the attempt, and I knew he wouldn't accidentally crush my windpipe or injure me in any way. To make a long story short, one day I stood in the training hall and he put his hands around my neck and choked me enough to cut off my air, while also putting pressure on my carotoid arteries.
Obviously I survived. But what if my faith in his skills had been misplaced? What if he hadn't known his own strength and had accidentally caused me severe injury? What if he had not loved me like a daughter but had secretly been hoping for the chance to kill his pesky student? If I had survived his murder attempt, he could have had me rushed to the hospital, claiming that I had myseriously collapsed while working out. Perhaps I had bulimia. Perhaps my asthma-like symptoms were really a heart condition.
No doctor or nurse, after the most cursory glance in my direction, would have believed him for a minute. They would have demanded, "Oh yeah, buddy? Then how do you explain the strangulation marks around her neck?"
You see, after our training exercise, which involved one controlled attempt at applying a choke, rather than an attempt to choke or strangle me to death, I left the training hall worried that someone was going to think I was the victim of attempted murder. (One of the dubious pleasures of training in the martial arts is having to explain to concerned non-martial-artists that my assorted bruises do not mean that I am the victim of abuse.)
Doctors and nurses are trained to notice these things. I was relieved that, when I was rushed to the hospital after having what we now refer to as my "fake heart attack", that I hadn't been practicing any front choke escapes recently. It was bad enough to have to explain the bruises on my arms. Being dressed in my martial arts uniform at the time helped.
No one has investigated nor seems to even care that the night that this happened to Terri they had had a huge fight. She had confided to family members and friends that he had become abusive and controlling. She was advised not to go home that night but to spend the night with a girlfriend but she went home. Hours later he called Bob Schindler saying Terri was on the floor hurt. He did not call 911 first.
In recent years, the Schindlers have repeatedly publicly accused Michael of strangling their daughter and the press has reported it widely. This is disturbing if it is true, and disturbing if it is not true.
I'm not sure who allegedly advised her not to go home that night. All I know is that, if I were that person, I would have been at Terri's side---or at least on the phone---first thing the next morning to make sure she was OK. Once I found out that she was in the hospital, unresponsive, I would have been in contact with the police immediately, filing a report. I would have been at the hospital, pointing out the marks of strangulation that every doctor and nurse mysteriously missed. I would have told the Schindlers everything I knew. I would not have been silent for a moment.
But that's not what happened. Instead, no mention of strangling and abuse was raised until years later. In the meantime, Michael called the Schindlers "Mom" and "Dad"; they cared for Terri together; they even moved in together. Is this how you would treat the person who tried to murder your daughter?
And, during all these years, the person who warned Terri that night remained silent. Perhaps he/she forgot the whole thing. Perhaps he/she was too busy to do or say anything. Perhaps he/she thought it was none of his/her business. I don't know. But, somehow, years later, after the Schindler-Schiavo feuding began, this person came forward and suddently decided to speak out.
If it's true, I'd like to know who this person is and why they hated Terri so much. Because I find such silence and complicity in attempted murder to be hateful.
If it's not true, then the false accuser is immoral beyond words.
But there is another question I cannot shake: if Terry was strangled, why did not one doctor or nurse in the emergency room notice this?
I wonder how many of my readers have ever had someone's hands around their throats in an attempt to choke them. I have.
My choking story
When I was a brown belt, training for my black belt in the martial arts, I decided to put some of the self-defense techniques I'd learned to the test. Warning: do not try this at home! I would not advise that anyone do what I am about to describe.
I trusted my instructor implicitly. He is a grandmaster, the founder of his own system, and has been teaching publicly for 45 years. Besides, he said he loved me like a daughter. I trusted him with my life and trusted his skills and abilities to do what I was going to ask him to do.
What I asked him to do was to choke me. Of course, I wanted to survive the attempt, and I knew he wouldn't accidentally crush my windpipe or injure me in any way. To make a long story short, one day I stood in the training hall and he put his hands around my neck and choked me enough to cut off my air, while also putting pressure on my carotoid arteries.
Obviously I survived. But what if my faith in his skills had been misplaced? What if he hadn't known his own strength and had accidentally caused me severe injury? What if he had not loved me like a daughter but had secretly been hoping for the chance to kill his pesky student? If I had survived his murder attempt, he could have had me rushed to the hospital, claiming that I had myseriously collapsed while working out. Perhaps I had bulimia. Perhaps my asthma-like symptoms were really a heart condition.
No doctor or nurse, after the most cursory glance in my direction, would have believed him for a minute. They would have demanded, "Oh yeah, buddy? Then how do you explain the strangulation marks around her neck?"
You see, after our training exercise, which involved one controlled attempt at applying a choke, rather than an attempt to choke or strangle me to death, I left the training hall worried that someone was going to think I was the victim of attempted murder. (One of the dubious pleasures of training in the martial arts is having to explain to concerned non-martial-artists that my assorted bruises do not mean that I am the victim of abuse.)
Doctors and nurses are trained to notice these things. I was relieved that, when I was rushed to the hospital after having what we now refer to as my "fake heart attack", that I hadn't been practicing any front choke escapes recently. It was bad enough to have to explain the bruises on my arms. Being dressed in my martial arts uniform at the time helped.
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