Tong Moo Do

Have you ever been in a situation where you wished you could physically defend yourself, but felt inadequate with no resources other than your voice and your high heeled shoe?

I was 56 years old before this happened to me and let me tell you, I was really sorry I wasn’t capable of kicking butt when needed. The situation was not life threatening but extremely annoying and demeaning.

I was standing at a nightclub bar waiting to order a drink and talking to some of the other patrons. In my peripheral vision I saw two decently dressed men, laughing together as they stopped one on either side of me but back a few feet, then I felt one of them rub his hand over my butt. WTF?

He immediately took a step back as I turned and I said, ‘Don’t do that’ to his smirking face. And, I turned back to the bar, thinking he was just a stupid drunk and that he’d go away.

I could see his friend was egging him on and he did it again. I was harsher the second time but didn’t cause a scene. The third time, I turned around and took a step toward him, yelling at him and kicked him as hard as I could – unfortunately it was only in the shin, and he didn’t even flinch, so I hauled off and kicked him a second time, much harder making sure my heel connected. Then I went looking for the bouncer. The two guys saw me talking to the bouncer and I saw them trying to get lost in the crowd.

They eventually came back in from the balcony where they had escaped, and when my friend spotted them doing the exact same thing to another woman at the bar, I pointed them out to the bouncer. The bouncer was having trouble keeping a straight face, which I totally understood because it was rather humorous, but he took me seriously and asked what I wanted him to do. I suggested he escort them out, which he did.

I never in my wildest imagination expected to be accosted like that at my age and I never wished more that I had even the slightest martial art training. Oh, I’d have liked to kick the side of his head – or at least higher than his shin.

Last week, my Granddaughter asked me I if wanted to see her Karate kick. You bet I wanted to see her Karate kick and all her other moves and she told me she was starting a martial arts course. Tonight she and her Daddy came over for dinner and she was wearing her Tong Moo Do outfit and she demonstrated some of her positions.

I am so pleased to know my 6 year old Granddaughter will never feel the way I felt. She will be able to defend herself and kick butt when necessary! Girl Power!