There’s something to be said about”the will to fight.” That inner warrior spirit that tells you that there’s no option, that you have to take the fight to your enemy.
In this day and age, a lot of people will tell us that such a desire is somehow wrong. Some argue that working toward having the ability to fight back somehow is unethical.
Meanwhile, a story out of Christchurch, New Zealand tells us something very different.
NZHerald.co.nz has this story of how one survivor from one of the mosque attacks opted not to just wait to die.
A survivor of the shooting at Christchurch’s Linwood mosque has revealed how his friend risked his life to tackle the gunman and wrestle away the weapon.
Syed Mazharuddin witnessed the attack and said he heard gunshots and could tell the shooter was very close.
“People got feared and there was screaming around and I tried to take cover,” he said.
…
Mazharuddin said the shooter was wearing protective gear and firing wildly.
A man from inside the mosque then tried to tackle the gunman.
“The young guy who usually takes care of the mosque … he saw an opportunity and pounced on [the gunman] and took his gun,” Mazharuddin said.
“The hero tried to chase and he couldn’t find the trigger in the gun.”
In other words, someone fought back and look what happened?
I won’t lie. I think people should be armed and trained to defend themselves. However, that’s not an option for everyone. Regardless, though, this is yet another piece of evidence that it’s always better to at least try to fight back.
At worst, you might get shot anyway, but ask yourself this: If you’re going to be shot anyway, isn’t it better to get shot fighting?
If you can escape, that’s one thing. I don’t fault someone for focusing on getting their family to safety. As a parent, that’s your freaking job. You do that.
When that’s taken care of, or if it’s not an option, then taking the fight to the bad guy is always preferable to waiting for death. Always.
The ideal world is one without attacks like this. That’s not the world we have. We’re stuck with this one.
But that just means we need the will to fight. We need to find it and cultivate it within us. We need to prepare ourselves for those moments. God forbid we need them, but…
Well, just imagine if the hero in this story had known how to operate a firearm under stress? Imagine he’d known how to take down a bad guy and keep him down?
Realistically, I don’t know that it would make much difference. But it might. It might keep someone you love alive.
I won’t lie, I take mass shootings personally. I lost a dear friend in a mass shooting a few years back in Seattle. Even today, I still remember collapsing under my desk in tears when I found out she was gone.
Because of that, I take them very personally. That’s not to say anyone other than the shooter is to blame. I don’t actually blame anyone but him.
That said, I do wish someone had been able to take him down before my friend was killed.
I’d rather her live and grow to hate everything I stand for because she survived than to have a world without her. I’d give anything for that world.
Again, it’s not the world I get.
But you can make it that world for someone else. We each can. Hell, we can be terrifying. We can be Barbarians. More than that, we can learn and be ready.
Train. Prepare. Study. Ready yourself.
We don’t get to pick if or when that moment may come. We only get to pick how we’ll react to it.
Maybe we die and no one else will know the difference we tried to make. Then again, I’d sure as hell know. I suspect my family would too. At the end of the day, who else really matters?
Think about that when you’re lifting weights. Think about it when you’re hitting a heavy bag or snatching a kettlebell. Let that thought own you, become part of your identity.
If the time comes, own the moment. The life you may save will appreciate it. More than you could ever know, I bet.
And if it doesn’t? Who cares? You can’t answer for opportunities not taken when they’re never offered.
