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The Warrior Within: Quiet Strength, Ready When Needed.

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on JUL 21, 2025

The Warrior Within: Quiet Strength, Ready When Needed. image

The Warrior Within: Quiet Strength, Ready When Needed.

(Approx 2 minute 25 second read)

Some people look like they were born fighters. Of course they’re not – but it feels that way when you see how they step forward while others shrink back.

That’s the warrior within – something you either have or you don’t.

For those of you who aren’t interested in self-defense – the competitors, the ones who train for fun, fitness, and health – what would you do when faced with a real-life threat?

The dojo, after all, is a safe place. You might get a few bruises, maybe even break a bone by accident, but your life is never truly on the line.

I remember years ago when I was teaching advanced driving skills to police officers, my student was at the wheel when we passed what looked like a man beating a woman by the roadside. I told him to turn the car around so we could go back and see if I could help. He looked at me, surprised – “You want to go back?”

I’m no superhero – though Batman and I have never been seen in the same room together – but I believe you have to do something.

There have been plenty of times in my life (I’m pretty old) when I’ve had to use my skills to get myself and others out of trouble – sometimes physically, sometimes by other means. Often, it was simply the right thing to do. There were times in my career too when I stepped forward long before others even realized something was about to happen.

My wife and I, both lifelong martial artists, were talking about this recently. She’s a 6th dan instructor in her own right. She told me about an incident on the ‘El’ train in downtown Chicago – a man was randomly throwing punches at passengers. If you’ve never been on the ‘El’, it can feel like a rolling version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Not always the safest place to be.

She told me how she’d spotted him well before he reached her. She tracked him, read him, prepared herself. Others around her just cowered in their seats – a natural reaction for people who have never faced real violence.

And this is what worries me when people tell me self-defense is pointless – that it’s not needed, that they only train for fun.

There are moments when you have to step up. Maybe not for yourself – but for the older person being threatened, the person with special needs being bullied, the one who looks different and is getting pushed around.

What will you do? Put your head down and pretend it’s not happening?

Not long ago, a man high on LSD banged on our front door and was causing a commotion outside my house. A small crowd gathered, but no one stepped forward to calm things down. I did – I got hold of him and the situation before my neighbor arrived swinging a baseball bat. Turned out the man was harmless in the end – but you never know how these things will unfold.

There are times when we need the warrior within to step out. And yes, there are times when restraint is the wiser path. But if we all stand back – if we only train for fun and never for any practical skill – who will step forward when it matters most?

That’s worth thinking about – because one day, someone might need you to.

Written by Adam Carter – Shuri Dojo

 

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