Totally Screwed Up

Guns, knives, and martial arts skills do not ward off danger.  They help you deal with it more effectively and only in select circumstances.  Never forget that self-defense is really about not being there, using awareness, avoidance, and de-escalation to eliminate the need to fight.  Fighting is what you do when you've totally screwed up your self-defense.  

-- Lawrence A. Kane and Kris Wilder, The Little Black Book Of Violence (What Every Young Man Needs To Know About Fighting), Section 3, Aftermath Of Violence, Handling Blows To Your Self Esteem, p 249 (2009)