I Don’t Fight for Sport

"Where in the Nine Hells did you ever get the notion I would fight fair?" -- Drizzt Do'Urden in The Crystal Shard: The Legend of Drizzt Book IV by R. A. Salvatore

One lesson that I learned following my first real fight (I lost by decision) was that fighting is inherently unfair. Someone almost always holds an advantage in strength, power, size, quickness, conditioning, experience, and/or training (not to mention numbers if your opponent has a handful of knuckle-dragging supporters willing to jump in if they don't like how the fight is going or if they think that the "rules" are being broken 😉). While I don't think that this reality justifies, legally or morally, going "nuclear" and breaking out the potentially lethal weapons in a schoolyard brawl, I also find the idea of a fair fight kind of naive. I mean we COULD agree to some ground rules should we both be spoiling for a fight, but I generally speaking have no interest in fighting for fun. If you insist upon fighting me, I intend to ensure that you never come back to me looking for a rematch somewhere and someday down the road. I am not looking to claim a medal, a trophy, or a championship belt. If you put me in the position of having to fight you, I intend to hurt you. I intend to physically damage you to the point that you stop threatening or assaulting me. I may not succeed, but that is going to be my intent.

Truth be told, I haven't been in a lot of fights. I have been in a few, walked away from a few, and on a few occasions I have managed to convince someone before it came to blows that I was more trouble than I was worth (when I was seventeen my mom once asked me if I had "been brawling again" and I am certain that she was mistaking me for someone else). I am older now. I REALLY have no interest in brawling and I don't relish the idea of healing up from an avoidable or unavoidable violent confrontation.

Likewise, I don't relish the idea of gravely injuring someone, maiming someone, or killing someone if they threaten me or a loved one with death or grave bodily harm. But I will protect myself and those that I love. If you threaten me or someone that I care about with death or grave bodily harm, I intend to address that threat with the intent of ending it decisively within the bounds of the law. Providing you with a "fair fight" will not be even a remote concern for me. I will attempt to do what I find necessary to achieve my goal. And you should know that the law allows for some rather unpleasant consequences for you should you see fit to illegally threaten me or someone that I care about with death or grave bodily harm. Keep that in mind.