Firas Zahabi: Some People Don’t Know the Reality of Violence

Let me ask you this. Mind experiment. Imagine you have no martial arts training. None. Take everything you've learned, throw it away. Take away all your physical training. You walk into a room full of people. How do you feel? Psychologically? A little insecure. Insecure. Insecure. That's how regular people feel. Most people, I should say, most. They never train in their life. They're unskilled to deal with a situation that might occur. They might occur at any moment. It's such a gift to train. I train all my students, my kids. It's mandatory. Training to a certain level is mandatory. Mathematics is mandatory to a certain level. In Canada, you can't say, I want to drop out of high school. No, it's illegal now. It's illegal to drop out of high school? I think it is now. Or they're going to pass it. But it's like you need a certain level of education. I'm not sure now of high school. Let's say elementary school. You can't drop out of elementary school. High school, though, I'm not sure. I have to double check. But I'm pretty sure it's illegal now at this point. Well I think that would stop a lot of bullying. And I've said this before, but I think it's counterintuitive to people. They think that bullying is a mean person. And if you taught them how to fight, they'd become meaner. But I don't think that's the case. I think bullies are insecure. Yes. I think if you took away that and they got to really establish through training that they have character and that there were something and that they don't have to be insecure and they build up this confidence, you wouldn't see them going out and picking on people. I've had so many parents tell me, I don't recognize my son when he's with you. He's so disciplined. He's so kind. He's so outspoken. He's like at home, he's an animal. He acts up. I'm like, really? Well, here, if you did that, it would be a problem. People respect the dojo. They respect the environment they're in because there are other guys out there that put you in line. And that's the real world. And some people, they don't know that. I remember one time I was in an airplane and a guy punched the back of my seat. I swear to God. I leaned back. He had a laptop on his tray. When I leaned back, it crushes the laptop. I don't know. The guy has a laptop. I'm allowed to lean my seat back. I leaned back. The guy pushes like he, he pommed it hard. Like, poom. He's like, excuse me, sir. Is there a problem? He's like, don't lean your chair back. I'm like, whoa. I'm like, this is a guy who's never gotten a beating in his life. The way he talked to me was so rude. I was like, dude, man. I would never talk like that to somebody. Never. Why? Because you learn through martial arts, you know, like respect everyone, man. Respect is huge. One day you're the hunted. The other day you're the hunter. And it's just like the way life works, you know, like have respect. Why should, like this guy is instigating a fight now. We know what violence is. It could be really bad for one of us here. Like why would you want to go there? Over a laptop movie? Yeah. You just say, I would have been like, sorry, sir. My fault. My apologies. I would have bought the guy. I would have bought him whatever he wants. Like I would have took care of it. Like I would have been nice to him about it because we know the realities of violence. Like some people don't know the realities of violence. Like I've seen people like on video, they're in a certain situation and they act all crazy. Hey, this might spark some violent event here. Like you don't want this. You don't know what violence is. You've seen it on TV. You've seen it in a movie. You think you know what it is to be punched and kicked and like this could end really bad for you. Like would you want to play with that if you know what it was? Like sometimes I see people starting a fight. I'm like, this person has no idea what they're talking about. Like they've never been in a fight. They're instigating a fight. A fight might occur and they might regret it. Like they don't know what it is to be hit, to be attacked, to be in a fight. So like I just find I find I always like jaw dropping when somebody is going to instigate a fight over something so small. And they don't even know how to fight, which is what's even crazier. I told that guy off so bad. Did you? Oh, cause you know, I told him off so bad. I scared the hell out of him and I was like, yo, what are you gonna do now? And he was like, he turned white. I'm like, dude, like I could have been an old lady here. Yeah. You could have hit an old lady. She's pulling her chair back. I told him off. Look at my, we're in an airplane too. So I told him off like I didn't yell or anything, but I told him off. I told him he's a real, you know, I told him what I think of him. That guy shut his mouth. But it's like, dude, you want to fight over this laptop? Like seriously, like that's no one can possibly know that you have a laptop open. No, but in fact, you palm someone's chair. Me, when I'm in public, the last thing I want to do is fight. Yeah. Of course. Of course. The last thing I got out of my system. Well, isn't it funny? Like when was the last time we saw a fight at the gym? Never. Never. Maybe occasionally some guys get mad if some guy doesn't like little thing. A little thing. Yeah. It's a little thing, but it's, it's rare. Yeah. Like a bar? Jesus Christ. Almost every weekend. People fight. The worst place to be. You understand what it is. And I think most people don't. And I think most people are scared of it. And I think that's why they posture. That's why they puff their chest up. That's why they pretend. Most people have zero idea. Most people that haven't had any sort of a physical altercation, they have zero idea of how vulnerable they truly are. They really just don't know. There's this left turn I take to the gym that people think it's illegal. Like my wife when I did it once, she's like, that's an illegal turn. I'm like, no, it's not. I videotaped the light. There's two green lights going left. I had to send it to her and she's like, okay, you're right. I take that left turn twice a day every day to go to the gym. One day I take that left turn and this guy races his car towards me. Like he's going to plow through my door. Hong sat me, starts telling me off. I'm like, I opened my car door. I'm like, let's go. You want to go? The guy's like, he got scared. I'm like, dude, you're like talking to me like you're my father here. You want to go? And the guy's like, turn away. He didn't want to come out of his car. I'm like, shut your mouth. It's not an illegal light. I get in my car and I leave. But that guy was Mr. Tough. That guy's never been in a fight in his life. Now that it's, you know, he's in his car, he's safe and I hate stuff like this.