Circles and Ornery Deception

"Theatricality and deception. Powerful agents, to the uninitiated."

This is one of my favorite quotes from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises. I am a HUGE Batman fan, have been since I was three years old when Mom took me to see Batman starring Michael Keaton. Those words ring true in Bando.

On a personal level, I'd rather be up close to engage someone. Yes, this makes me more vulnerable to knives, or even your seasoned brawler. But it also adds a level of personal interaction to combat. Sure, I can pick you off at 700 yards with my Mosin Nagant. But where is the passion in pulling a trigger? Let me make this abundantly clear: I have no interest in ever using Bando or any of my firearms against another human being. But, I will not hold back should anyone ever decide to steal my life from me. My son and my family deserve my time. I have great things to share with the world. I have the duty to pull other men from the pits of fear and doubt, the mire of uncertainty, and the darkness of a troubled past. Sayaji Osborne has done that for me, and it would be insulting not to desire and ACT to do the same for those who deserve it.

Tonight, we covered basics because we had a newcomer in our midst. But, as I see it, Sayaji Osborne shared some deeper techniques with the three of us in order to show our new Initiate some of the greater aspects of Bando so he can see why he should stick around. These two are as follows:

A parry that moves into a grab/break that either immobilizes the attacker.
A parry that sets up for a slew of attacks to almost immediately take down the attacker.

After a short conversation with our newcomer, I saw we both have three very serious common interests:

A love of shiny, pointy things that can cause grievous injury.
A love of martial arts and their preservation.
An understanding of the lack of respect and courage of the general masses.

The staggering friendliness, helpfulness, generousness, and overall commitment and desire to learn was breathtaking. I am thankful to be associated with someone like that, whether or not we come from the same discipline or even if he sticks around. Though he may not see things as I do (should he read this), I saw a common ground between us. So, I shall cover each of these three things so that concepts may be grasped as the way I see them.

"A love of shiny, pointy things that can cause grievous injury."
To anyone who knows me intimately, I have a massive collection of sticks and knives. This is what initially drew me into the Bando system. The idea of weaponized combat has always fascinated me. You can't just ask your average mentor to teach you in the art of swordplay anymore. We are too dependent on guns, no matter how powerful, which leaves me with one final sentiment to close this part of the article: A gun runs out of ammo. A knife doesn't.

"A love of martial arts and their preservation."
Martial arts have developed over thousands of years. From farmers just trying to defend their crops from raiders to police and military having to engage in combat with criminals with no regard to human life. These movements and techniques have developed over time from hard fought trial and error, likely with many lives lost and their comrades trying to come up with ideas on how to not lose another friend to senseless violence. This is not a beautiful painting or sculpture in a museum. These are movements, that tell a story and teach the ignorant and weak how to defend themselves against the wicked. Martial arts need to be preserved and passed on to the next generation. Not just as an ability to defend oneself against an attacker, but as an honor to the fallen that are the reason it was put together in the first place.

"An understanding of the lack of respect and courage of the general masses."
I often see a meme on the internet that states, "If I had spoken to my parents in the way that children today speak to their parents, I wouldn't be alive to write this." Americans have become soft and complacent. Most fools think that the police will save them from every ill that comes their way. Guess what? The police aren't everywhere. Even Superman has to fly to a crime or disaster. All of us need SOME combat training. Why? Because there are those without decency that will take from you whatever they can, just because you allow them to. Yes, I said allow. You have the option to learn some form of self defense. Why don't you? Is it arrogance? Laziness? A perceived lack of time? Whatever selfish and foolish reason you give is the reason that when an attacker comes your way, you will be forced to give up whatever they want, whether it be your possessions or your life. Chew on that when you try to take guns away from good men like me, who carry them because people like you are incapable of defending yourself against the heinous and immoral denizens of our world.

The aspect of respect is a difficult one to grasp. Those who seek to defile your life do not care about you. They don't care that you have a 4.0 GPA, or that you work for a Fortune 500 company. They don't care about your children, your spouse, your loved ones, your home or your possessions. Their only concern is that you have what they want.
The other side to this is between different styles of martial arts. The sheer disrespect between different schools is baffling. Many parents send their children to a martial arts school to teach them discipline and respect. The problem is that many teachers do not show this to other schools. So how can they show it, and better yet, teach it to your children? The fact is that they can't. Many martial arts schools are simply about MONEY. "I sell self confidence to children." Really? I trained in Karate when I was little and it didn't give me a damn bit of self confidence. I learned nothing useful to use against my childhood bully, and even if I had, I was told not to use it (or even fight back) against that scum sucking bastard. Had I been told, "Beat that bully's ass within an inch of his life because that's the only language he understands," I wouldn't still hold a grudge against him to this day, and my childhood would have been far brighter because I wouldn't have had some arrogant prick pushing me around every time I left my home. I would have had someone who had tormented me, and then became terrified of me because I was actually told to, and then kicked the shit out of him. Violent people only understand violence.

This does not mean violence is the only answer to every problem. Violence is the only answer when you are dealing with a violent person and diplomacy has failed. My destruction of my bully would have allowed me to walk in peace.
"Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy."

So, back to the title of the article:
Circles and Ornery Deception.

Deception and misdirection are enough to destroy an opponent. To move and act in such a way to cause confusion is to open your attacker up for decimating blows. This does not mean to try to "set up" attacks while you get your ass handed to you. This means to have an arsenal that not only confuses and evades your enemy, but without wasted movements. A parry turns into a cover/block that turns into a strike. Or all three at once. It depends on what targets are available, and what strikes are coming your way. Not all systems teach this, and far more have no concept of this.

The "Circles" part refers to a very strong concept of Bando, which is circular motion. The basic scientific explanation of circular movement is very simple:
A circle allows continual movement without wasting energy.

Combining multiple movements (parrying, blocking, evasion, striking) into a circle allows you to continue your offensive and defensive maneuvers without losing energy or momentum. When striking an object with a sledgehammer, there is a particular method that involves striking at the side of the object (if possible) and bringing the hammer to your side and swinging it back up in a circle to above your head and then back down at the target. This does not waste energy, and allows the momentum to continue as you proceed in striking your mark, thus allowing you to work longer as you do not have to exert yourself as much in order to achieve your end goal.

These simplified concepts are the basics of Bando, which leads to a quote shared with me from Sayaji Osborne, that is taken from every aspect of life and applied here:
"The Master's Art Lies in Simplicity."