Personal Safety/Personal Responsibility

It always amazes me the looks I sometimes get when I say that personal safety, is a personal responsibility. There are some individuals who make the argument, that they have a right to be safe, a right not to be assaulted/attacked and so their own safety should not be their responsibility, and that predatory individuals should take the responsibility for not attacking them etc. To an extent I agree. Every individual should have the right to go about their business without having to worry about their safety, however this has never been a realistic proposition, and at the end of the day, personal safety has to be ensured by the individual, and not by anyone else, including society and those that enforce society's rule of law. Humans, 10 000 years ago would not have wasted their time arguing that they have a right not to be attacked by wild animals, or others humans, and would have put their efforts into ensuring that they never put themselves into a position where such attacks or assaults should occur, rather than wasting their time arguing about the injustices of having to consider their own safety from wild animals and aggressive humans. Just because modern society has afforded us with an environment where being assaulted is not a regular occurrence , doesn't mean we shouldn't consider all our actions and behaviors with regard to our own safety. 

In Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, personal safety, is on the level above: breathing, eating and sleeping, and below friendship etc. Safety, is the next need above basic existence/functioning and the one below that of social functioning. It is strange that we never question our need for food and social interaction, yet regularly neglect a basic need such as safety, which sits between the two of them. It also seems strange to me, that many individuals pass the meeting of this need on to others e.g. society, whereas they wouldn't expect for society to be responsible for feeding them and finding them friends etc. things they would see as being their own responsibility. If you have ever been assaulted, and had to dealt with the emotional and physical consequences of being attacked, you will soon realize the intimacy of violence, and realize that society - whatever that is - has little or no concern for your personal safety, and the only person who really cares about it is you. Violence is never fair, and having to take account of your own safety, in regards to the things that you do, may not seem fair, but it is reality. Haim Zut, one of Imi Lichtenfelds, first Krav Maga students, often says, if you are attacked once in twenty years, you will have wished you had been training for twenty years. Forget all the big talk in the martial arts and self-defense communities, even when you successfully physically defend yourself, you will not be joyful and exuberant, rather you will be depressed and disappointed that you will have been called upon to act this way.   

I have found that people who argue against or resent the idea, that personal safety is a personal responsibility have an unrealistic view regarding third parties who will intervene on their behalf. If you are expecting  others to come to your rescue if assaulted, you are in for a rude awakening. At a recent corporate seminar I gave, I was asked if it was better to yell fire than help, if you are being assaulted, as more bystanders and third parties are likely to engage if they believe there is a fire than if someone needs help. The martial arts community propagates a lot of unsubstantiated myths and old wives tales e.g. the majority of fights go to the ground, high kicks don't work on the street, if mugged throw your wallet on the ground away from you etc. In my book, make a statement, prove it, show me the empirical research that backs up a statement, such as the majority of street fights go to the ground. The Just Yell Fire argument comes from 17th Century London, and has no modern day equivalent. London in the 17th Century, was made up of close together houses, where fire could quickly spread from one house to another, and from street to street. The idea was that if you were being attacked, yelling/screaming fire would alert a homeowner to the fact that they could lose their home to a fire if they didn't take some practical measure e.g. going out on the street and helping to put it out. If a person has a vested interested in getting involved they may well do so. In today's society, where houses and buildings are not so closely linked, yelling fire may not provoke the same response. Relying on others for your personal safety may not be a good strategy. 

Considering your personal safety, is an inconvenience, and it may prevent you from engaging in actions, practices and behaviors that you may want to do e.g. going to a house party in a bad part of town may seem fun, but it may raise certain personal safety questions. However believing that your own safety should be handed over to someone else is a very dangerous step to take. As inconvenient as it is, we should consider everything we do in regards to our own safety.