By Cranford Blackmon
Throughout our lives, we’ve all heard people say “There’s a right way to do something, and there’s a wrong way.” If you’re a grown up, you’ve probably said it to someone with less wisdom than you. It is, for the most part, true. Of course, there are times when there are multiple “right” ways, and there are certainly a multitude of “wrong” ways to do things. But that’s a rabbit hole we won’t go down today!
So how is it possible that I can even suggest that the “wrong” way can be the “best” way? (That’s from the title – you did read that part, right?) I mean, we teach “self-protection” and how to save your own life, so should I really be telling you to do something the “wrong” way when something as important as your life is at stake? You better believe it! Keep reading.
Let’s talk about moving things. If you move something the “right” way, you can usually do it without injuring yourself or damaging the thing you’re moving. But there may come a time when, to get yourself or a loved one out of danger, you might want to move something the “wrong” way because you WANT to damage it. Specifically, in today’s article of incredibly simple but very effective knowledge, I want to talk about fingers.
Your fingers are built to move a certain way. EVERYONE’s fingers are built that way. Let’s do an exercise. Hold your hand out in front of you with your palm up and your fingers extended – the same way you do when someone starts handing out chocolate. Now curl your fingers in the way you would once you got the piece of chocolate you so desperately “need.” Now open them up again, like you want yet another piece of chocolate. That movement you just demonstrated is the only way your fingers should curve.
It’s the same when you’re giving your wayward child the signal to come over here RIGHT NOW, without even having to say a word. Or maybe you use that same signal on your husband who is clearly about to do something you or he will be embarrassed about for years. Really, it works on just about anyone.
What does that have to do with self-protection and saving a life? Well, nothing, if that finger is bending the “right” way. But you know I wouldn’t waste your time by writing an article that doesn’t help you out of a dangerous situation. So let’s get to the point, or more importantly, to the joint.
When someone has grabbed your arm, your wrist, your hair, your neck, or even your last piece of chocolate, it can be VERY difficult to force their hand open. Even if it is not a large muscular man doing the grabbing. But in a dangerous situation, you may not NEED to pry their hand open to get the result you want – them letting go of you. You see, hands (and fingers in particular) are really quite delicate. There’s hardly any protective tissue around the bones and joints of the fingers.
All you really need to do is to get your hand on ONE of that bad person’s fingers. NOW is the time to focus on the “wrong” way. Remember, fingers are built to bend in ONE DIRECTION ONLY. But to get out of someone’s grip, or to get them to let go of your child or friend, just get one finger and bend it in any direction other than the way it normally bends. That person will experience a LOT of pain. Plus, it will now be very difficult for him to use that hand to grab or hit anything, IF you bent it drastically enough!
Depending on how hard you bend it, you could cause a sprain, dislocation, or even a fracture. So don’t do this unless you or someone else is actually in danger. This isn’t something to do because your loud-mouthed, overly critical co-worker is pointing at you while saying something unpleasant! When you do something like that, YOU have become the bad guy! Never forget – with great finger breaking knowledge, comes great responsibility!
Now it doesn’t matter which finger you grab. They are all delicate and they all have unprotected joints. That means you don’t have to worry about which finger you get. When you feel like your life is in danger, or you’re being choked, or taken somewhere against your will, get a bad guy’s finger and start bending it and twisting in all the “wrong” directions. If that bad guy has both hands on your neck, go ahead and grab a finger on each of his hands and start making him regret ever trying to hurt YOU!
You may not be able to pry his hands off of you, but if you start twisting and turning his fingers in directions they are not built to go in, you can bet you’ll no longer need to “pry” his hands off of you! Just like the many things we teach in the Claws and Fangs course, no matter how big or strong someone is, human bodies will instinctively move away from pain and injury. That means you don’t necessarily have to over-power an attacker. If you know how to apply enough pain to his body, he will automatically move away from what you are doing to him. That gives you opportunities to escape and get help!
So now you see what I was talking about. How moving something (bad guy finger) the WRONG way can be the BEST way to escape from an attacker and save yourself or your loved ones.
Oh the possibilities of self-protection that present themselves when you have the right knowledge! I hope you’ll read our other articles to learn even more. And if you’re in our area, I hope you’ll sign up for a class where you’ll have fun learning MUCH more!
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Until next time,
Cranford Blackmon
