The following is our dojo motto:
“Everyone goes home!”
Lt. Col David Grossman relates the following story in his book On Combat:
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:
“Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” …
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
…
“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.
“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.”
…
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
…”
While Lt. Col. Grossman presents a thought-provoking look into the human mind, I disagree somewhat with his perceptions. It is my belief that many Airman, Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines experience what I’ll loosely term the dilemma of service. In essence, they pray for peace, but hope for war. This desire comes from the dilemma of mixed emotions of knowing that war is not beneficial for society, but having the intense desire to prove, both to themselves and to their comrades in arms, that they can perform their duties in combat. My disagreement comes in terms of the role of the shepherd being overshadowed by the role of the sheepdog. I believe what a shepherd carries in his heart is to get his flock home unharmed. In the everyday lives of most of us our flock is our family.
A shepherd’s primary job is to protect the flock. The shepherd most often does not have the primary advantage a war-fighter has, his comrades in arms. The shepherd is alone in his endeavor. If the shepherd is forced to engage the wolf, regardless of whether the results of engagement are win, loose, or draw, the flock is unprotected during the engagement. Yes, the obvious thought is that it is the sheepdog that has engaged the wolf not the shepherd, while he sees the flock to safety. But the reality is not likely to be quite that simple. If we follow through with the example given, wolves travel in packs. Your sheepdog will not survive a pack attack. Should your sheepdog have engaged a lone wolf, wolves are creatures used to having to fight regularly to survive, hence they get good at it. And a lone wolf is not the norm in nature so it is likely a lone wolf will be a desperate one, causing it to fight that much harder. All of this reduces the odds of success of the sheepdog. If this were your family, in the chaos of an altercation, most anything can happen. Perhaps you persevere and perhaps not. Would the best course of action be to not avoid the altercation entirely?
The shepherd then is truly the focus of the discussion for those of us not serving in the armed forced or law enforcement because that is the role that most of us in society will take if we so choose to walk a path of helping others. I do agree that many among societies shepherds are serving in the armed forces and law enforcement communities. But many more are simply quiet, unassuming people whom you would pass in a in crowd without a second glance, people who would go to any length to see their family home quietly and safely. My belief is that many of these are people who practice ninjutsu. In the practice of ninjutsu, awareness and escape are an integral part of the practice. Learning to be unassuming, unchallenging, and ultimately unnoticed. Thus the shepherd can escort his flock safely home without incident.
The art of ninpo is based on the core the ability to persevere. I believe that this very often means that we must take the road less noticed, in spite of our selfish desire to prove that we can and must protect our family. I believe the proof is given every time your family returns home safely. What more proof do we need? In other words, I believe we have to keep our own ego in check. However, not always does the world at large cooperate with our desires.
I believe our practice must first to seek to create a situation that promotes non-engagement, if we are forced to engage we must seek to disengage, if we cannot disengage, then we must end the altercation as fast as possible, in order to return to our primary function, protecting those we love. If I can find an alternative that allows everyone to go home healthy, shouldn't this be the path taken? The killing or maiming of an attacker in defense of your family will likely result in stress and turmoil for your family regardless of the outcome of the incident. Your family will in all likelihood be traumatized. There will be legal complications even if you acted in accordance with the law, particularly if you are forced to cause serious injury to your attacker. There is the possibility of revenge from the attacker and or his kin or suedo-kin. Wouldn’t it be much safer to simply avoid the incident through awareness and avoidance if possible? And work toward disengagement if avoiding an altercation is not possible?
A world free of violence is, quite frankly, not going to happen in the foreseeable future. So it is my belief that those of us that do chose to become shepherds must always remember that our primary responsibility remains in getting the flock home safely, not in proving that we can kill the wolf.
"Everybody goes home!"