Re: Rhino-hiding and cranking up

[carl christianson <einar@cvn.net>]

Poster: carl christianson <einar@cvn.net>

At 10:32 AM 4/15/97 -0400, Randy Dees wrote:
>
>And my two cents - it is far more honorable to yield to an opponent who
>will not accept your _good_ blows than to increase your force to the
>point of injuring that opponent.

There is another point to the cranking-up issue:  eventually, if you keep
cranking up your force, you will injure YOURSELF.  I did give up heavy
weapons... one, my sword-hand elbow got whacked pretty hard, and when I
over-use that hand, be it in handsewing, typing, etc., I experience some
numbness.  Number two, I never had a lot of upper body strength, and I had
to torque my body a lot to land solid blows.  My back can't handle that
anymore:  I've got one lumbar disc that is seriously flattened, and the
rest of my lumbar discs are going, too.  I had fun with it, but my fighting
days are OVER.

It is a part of the acknowledgement problem... and it is something that
each fighter has to consider.  At what point do you say "enough.."?  When
does not become worth it to you?  Furthermore, it is something that the
marshallate, IMHO, might want to consider... are the fighters hurting
themselves as the calibration level goes up?  Much of that will depend upon
the individual fighter's upper body strength and general build.

I don't think there's an easy, quick answer to all of this.  I do think
it's really, really sad that this issue has to exist at all.

Elen Prydydd

standing on the sidelines... permanently


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