>> And, yes, please. Now, granted, I know a LOT of differently-abled folk, a lot of whom are in this very room, but to the extent practical, people should know how to take care of themselves, from changing a tyre to mending a button to taking out a kneecap to CPR. <<
It's not just about ability, but about personality. The key to self-defense isn't physical strength or training. It is will. Someone who doesn't want to hurt anybody will not be very successful at it, no matter how much training they get. They'll hesitate. And if you try to force them into doing things they're not comfortable with, or simply can't do, you can do a lot of damage.
My preference is to give people the opportunity to learn, but not force them or harass them about things they aren't good at.
One of my favorite settings from my fantasy world of Hallelaine is Waterjewel. Wonderful tribe, very formidable. But they've got this rule about everyone having to learn how to fight, in case of emergency. I watched one of my best characters wreck a very fine student that way. In Terramagne, Jenan would've made a fantastic comare. He's a good healer, a great prostitute, and a terrible fighter. He wound up running away from home to the city, and it did not go well. No society is perfect.
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dancing_serpent
Thoughts
Date: 2017-06-23 12:36 am (UTC)Yay!
>> And, yes, please. Now, granted, I know a LOT of differently-abled folk, a lot of whom are in this very room, but to the extent practical, people should know how to take care of themselves, from changing a tyre to mending a button to taking out a kneecap to CPR. <<
It's not just about ability, but about personality. The key to self-defense isn't physical strength or training. It is will. Someone who doesn't want to hurt anybody will not be very successful at it, no matter how much training they get. They'll hesitate. And if you try to force them into doing things they're not comfortable with, or simply can't do, you can do a lot of damage.
My preference is to give people the opportunity to learn, but not force them or harass them about things they aren't good at.
One of my favorite settings from my fantasy world of Hallelaine is Waterjewel. Wonderful tribe, very formidable. But they've got this rule about everyone having to learn how to fight, in case of emergency. I watched one of my best characters wreck a very fine student that way. In Terramagne, Jenan would've made a fantastic comare. He's a good healer, a great prostitute, and a terrible fighter. He wound up running away from home to the city, and it did not go well. No society is perfect.