"No problem, except you stupid."

If you ask someone who knows me you will find out that I have a high tolerance for people. Poor behavior, especially directed at me, usually makes me curious rather than angry. This is okay when I am alone but sometimes I wonder what my role is when I am with my family. If someone where to act poorly towards my wife or child what is an appropriate response especially in regard to physical action.

I know people who would never take physical action toward anyone at any time. I also know people who are ready at any moment to take action for any challenge to their or their families honor. The spectrum is broad.

I have spent a good chunk of my life in the wrestling room. This has taught me my way around a body and some neat tricks too. It has also taught me that there is always someone stronger, faster, quicker and that sometimes it comes from unexpected places. I am confident in my abilities but aware of the dangers of physical interaction. 

There are other factors involved with physical action other than my experience in martial arts, especially when children are involved. There are questions to consider: Does this deserve a physical response and if so to what degree? Am I putting myself or my family at further risk? What are the physical and legal consequences of this action?  Is this the role model I want to be? What if I fail?

The question is continually posed: "If someone had a gun to your spouse's head and you had a gun in your hand would you shoot?"

It blew my mind when someone posed the question "what if you missed?" to me. It further blew my mind when I shot a handgun for the first time and seemed entirely unable to hit anything that I was aiming at. Another question posed to me was "would your spouse want you to pull the trigger?"

Ask questions later right? Wrong? I have read a few stories in the last year that involve young inebriates killing another person by a punch to the head because the other person was trying to calm them or something. There are stories of people defending themselves or their family and going to prison because their defence became offence and they ended up maiming someone. Even one of my high school friends was killed by a bullet to the back from a shop keeper whose store he was attempting to rob. He died in a field after crawling some distance.

That is why the man at the mall who continued running into me after I apologized for cutting him off was not harmed even after he repeatedly called me stupid while going up the elevator. I merely looked at him and gave my conflict face (usually a perfect blend of confusion, empathy, and passiveness expressed in a smirk). I suppose if the only issue is that I am stupid then I can live with that.

I have been thinking a lot about this in the past few days due to this situation. It made me think of the "heroes" I always see from Hollywood who risk everything to save themselves or their families or who throw punches to defend honor. The movie Taken comes to mind (Liam Neeson blows up half of Paris and kills foreign diplomats and VIPS and comes out in the end with no legal or political backlash). Even though there is an alarming degree of impossibility, impracticality, and downright terrible choices, I still identify with Liam and cheer for him as he gets out of the hospital (the day after he is shot, stabbed, and beaten). I suppose a movie about a person having something terrible happen and then waiting to hear from the police regarding the incident is more of a drama than a thriller but seriously what should I do when a group of Albanian's abduct my daughter in Paris? Someone's got to know.

This post was supposed to be solely a critique of the movie Taken but it got a little bit out of hand. I apologize.