A Bruised Shin for Trying to be a Hero on the Streets

As an amateur Muay Thai practitioner myself, I am aware that imitating whatever kung fu flick I see on the big screens in real life self defense situations is foolish. Countless times, my parents have been warning me to avoid fights instead of engaging in one whenever some stranger provokes me. They also reminded me not to be a hero whenever I'm being robbed or mugged. According to them, it is best to just give in as it is not worth risking your life over money that can be earned again. Although my parents are right about issues like these, it just makes me feel that my Muay Thai training all this while has been a waste of my time and my dad's money. Moreover, having to comply to the demands of jerks who can push you around or even think they can take anything they want from you is really degrading, especially if you're the kind of person who can't tolerate bullies like me. Not too long ago, my rationality in street self defense was tested and unfortunately, I failed miserably when I ended a fight with a bruised shin for trying to be a hero. I guessed I had it coming for not listening to my parents.

Last Sunday, seeing that how pleasant the evening was, I decided to end my weekend with a comedy movie. Consequently, the thought of visiting the cinema for Mr. Woodcock popped into my head. My roommate who was too busy studying decided to stay at home therefore, I went to the movies all by myself. The movie theater was a 25 minutes walk from my place. As I was walking, I then remembered my mum who just phoned me a couple of days ago reminding me not to go out late in the evening all by myself as she was worried that someone might rob me. She told me to take a cab or a bus if I ever wanted to visit the mall or the cinema in the late evening or night. Taking a cab was out of the question as I never like the expensive cab services here in Canada. On the other hand, I prefer taking the bus services seeing that it is free; however, since there were no more bus services for that day, I had no choice but to walk. Throughout my walk along the road that was illuminated by street lamp posts and the head lights of passing vehicles, I slightly panted as the road to the cinema was not only long but also upward steep. In the middle of my walk, I saw two Canadian girls who were scared by an idiot with a monster mask who was hiding in the bushes all the while. He looked as old as me and that jackass didn't even realized that Halloween hasn't even started. As he giggled sinisterly over his "triumph", he went back into the bushes waiting for his next prey which happened to be me. The second I walked pass the bush, that masqueraded dick head popped out and screamed. Unfortunately and apparently very disappointing for him, I walked passed him pretending that I never saw him coming. Fueled with disappointment and rage, he shouted at me demanding me not to turn my back on him. Like him, I was boiled in rage the moment he shouted at me for not being spooked by his pathetic act. I paused my walk, turned back and headed for that prick with my fist clenched.

He continued shouting at me in gibberish as I was walking towards him and all of a sudden he dropped into this exaggerated kung fu stance that looked like the ones from the movies. He then unmasked himself and started crying out those Karate yells. He continued mumbling in gibberish and the only word I understood from his mouth was "Bring it on". I then became a little terrified as I realized that this crazy jerk was going to attack me. Conversely, I calmed myself down by reminding myself that I'm trained for situations like this. Well I better be...all those sweat, tears and money I have invested in my Muay Thai classes. I immediately dropped into my Muay Thai weight back stance as I stared at him right in the eyes getting ready for my first street fight in a foreign land. I told him that I would like to see how long he can last against my kicks. Feeling threatened, he immediately charged at me from a distance getting ready to lay the smack down on me. I just waited and waited for him to get into the perfect range. Just close enough to check him with my leg, I heightened myself with the balls of my right rear leg and launched my left leg from outside in a circular motion. My lead round house kick missed as he was fast enough to pull back and I ended up crashing my shin into the tall lamp post that was between me and my adversary. Utter pain struck my left shin and I was in a world of hurt. I immediately went back to my fighting stance and tried to anticipate his next move which wasn't very easy with all the pain trying to deteriorate my concentration. Although I was in pain, I had to masquerade my agony or risk facing repeated attacks on my left shin. That guy stared at me with a stoned expression before looking at my shin and the dented metal of the lamp post. He then smiled at me and told me that we're done for the day before he ran off. After that jerk left, I fell to the ground and I held onto my left shin moaning in pain.

A hill billy in a pick up truck who saw me struggled in pain on the ground then stopped by to help. He asked me a rhetorical question whether I was alright. I told him that I hurt my leg real bad and I needed him to send me back to my apartment. He folded my jeans to see the damage and to his disgust (and also mine), my left shin was swollen badly. I asked him was my shin broken and to my relief, he said it was just bruised.He told me that he's going to send me to the hospital but I insisted to be send back to the my apartment. Eventually he agreed to my request and he carried me to his pick up truck. On the way back to my apartment, he asked me what exactly happened and I briefly told him that some punk tried to harassed me. He then suggested to bring me to the police station to file a report but I told him to just get me back home as the punk didn't took any of my stuff. He defended his suggestion by reminding me that my attacker caused me a bruised shin but when I told him that I caused myself a bruised shin, he was thrown into a deep state of confusion. I exaggerated a bit by telling the hill billy that I over kicked my attacker just to avoid looking silly and all he could say in response was, "Wow". As he dropped me off at the entrance of my apartment, he volunteered to carry me back to my room but seeing that I didn't want to look awful, I told him it was okay. After thanking him for his generosity, the hill billy told me to take care of myself before driving off. Surprisingly I could still walk up to my room despite my battered left shin. During that night, I constantly rubbed heat oil to soothe the pain down.

I guessed I had it coming for not listening to my parents. Furthermore, I had it coming for trying to show off my skills. Despite my stupidity, I was fortunate enough as that jerk didn't attacked me further. I was not only thrown into pain but also into humiliation seeing that my kru would be very disappointed if he knew that I threw a lousy kick and a pathetic display of Thai boxing. That'll teach me not to show off again, to be more tolerance towards harassment and to train harder in the future.