What the Death of Vernon Forrest Can Teach Fighters
Former boxing champion Vernon Forrest was shot and killed in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday July 25th. The incident occured at a local gas station where Forrest was robbed at gun point and killed a few minutes later when in pursuit of the robber.
This is an extremely unfortunate event; one that every martial artist and fighter should take note of.
The Details
Forrest, 38, is best known as the first man to defeat Shane Mosley (an extremely dominant force in the boxing world). Forrest was also a member of the 1992 Olympic boxing team alongside Oscar De La Hoya. Achieving a professional record of 41-3, Forrest was able to attain the ranks of welterweight and junior-middleweight champion.
On Saturday the 25th Forrest stopped at an Atlanta gas station to refill the air in his tires. His 11-year-old son was in tow, whom Forrest allowed to enter the gas station itself. While refilling, Forrest was approached by a gun-wielding assailant and was robbed of his Rolex and championship ring.
As the robber made his escape, Forrest retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and began pursuit. The chase went on for roughly 3 blocks where the assailant was able to slip away. Forrest, still in close pursuit, encountered another individual, according to police lieutenant Keith Meadows:
“Forrest comes around the corner and he encounters another individual who we believe has a gun in his hand,” Meadows said, adding that Forrest and the second person “exchange words” before Forrest “realizes that this is not the individual who actually robbed him.
“So he turns to walk away and it was at that point the subject shot Mr. Forrest a number of times in the back,” Meadows said. - Yahoo Sports
The Takeaway
Here we have a sports fighting phenom - strong, fast, confident, and effective. On top of that, he was reportedly a great father and humanitarian outside the ring. Yet despite all that he still fell victim to a classic case of street violence.
No matter how much ground-n-pound, kyusho, or sparring we do, we can never be sure how things will unfold on the street. Furthermore, if we let our anger and self-confidence take ahold of us, we might exacerbate an escapable situation.
No one can be blamed for Forrest's death besides the assailants. However, it is becoming more evident that Forrest made questionable decisions in dealing with his situation. The first of which was making the choice to stop. Trainer Emanuel Steward had this to say:
"I always preach to my boxers to never stop for gas late at night when you don't know your surroundings," Steward said. "Vernon did, and his natural instinct as an athlete was to go after his assailant. He's going to fight back. The problem is everyone, it seems, has a gun." - Freep.com
Awareness and proper planning are very underrated tools for self defense. No matter how skilled or well armed you are, Steward is right - it seems like everyone has a gun.
The second issue was Forrest's decision to chase after his possessions. I can only imagine what kind of sentimental value the championship ring must have had, but it was replaceable. As that robber ran off so did the immediate danger to Forrest and his son. Unfortunately, street justice wouldn't have been served, and Forrest seemed like the kind of man who wanted to punish wrong doing.
Who can say they haven't felt the same way at some point?
We need to take stock in our training and realize the importance of the mental side of body, mind, spirit. We need to be able to quickly choose when fighting is necessary and utterly required to protect ourselves and others. This is extremely difficult, especially when combined with the quick chaotic nature of true violence.
The third issue was Forrest's disengagement from his eventual killer. When Forrest lost site of his robber, he encountered another individual who was allegedly wielding a firearm. The two exchanged words, and Forrest realized that this wasn't the guy who robbed him. After that, he turned his back to walk away, and was shot repeatedly.
I don't know what was said, but there is absolutely no reason to trust this random, armed individual enough to turn your back or drop your guard even for a moment.
When it comes to violent events, hindsight is easy. We can do shoulda-woulda all day, but the fact is those split second decisions determine the final outcome of the event. Perhaps we can store Forrest's untimely death in the back our minds so that we might learn from it.
Listening to the Labyrinth Worm
Have you ever seen Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly? It's a 1986 movie that features the combined talents of Jim Henson and George Lucas. The film is weird, remarkable, and freaky...in a good way.
In the movie, a young Jennifer Connelly (Sarah) is aggravated with her life and role as perpetual babysitter to her younger brother (Toby). She wishes the Goblin King, a character from her favorite fairytale, would come take him away forever. Unfortunately for her, the Goblin King (Bowie) hears the request and obliges.
In order to save Toby, Sarah embarks on a long adventure through the Goblin King's Labyrinth to save him.
Very early on in the labyrinth Sarah becomes befuddled. No matter how far or fast she runs, she can't find any turns in the maze. It just seems endless and straight. She resolves to solve this puzzle by running even harder and faster down the corridor.
After what seems like an eternity of running, Sarah becomes flustered and stops. While agonizing over her fate, she hears a strange voice...
So What?
At first Sarah's journey seemed pretty simple - all she had to do was run as hard and fast as possible and she would eventually find the solution. However, she quickly realized the limited scope of her progress as she simply ran the preset path without thinking.
Eventually she paused...and met someone who was able to change her perspective. It turns out the improvement she was looking for miles down her current path existed right where she was standing.
In fact, had she been a little more patient, she could have learned even more.
In your training you can bang full steam ahead as long as you want, but there's no guarantee it will get you where you want to go. The walls will dictate you if you let them.
Always listen to a humble worm when it's trying to show you other perspectives. Talk to as many worms as possible. Listen for as long as possible. Become a worm yourself.
What PowerPoint Taught Me About Martial Arts
The other day I was watching a presentation by Garr Reynolds. Garr currently resides in Japan and is a big exponent of Zen Buddhism. During his presentation he provided a bunch of really eloquent and insightful quotes from artists of all different backgrounds. These quotes really spoke to me and made strong connections in my mind to the martial arts.
Here is the catch though...
His presentation was about Powerpoint! More specifically, how to conduct great presentations using Powerpoint, handouts, etc as tools.
Amazingly, the principles he was sharing with his audience to make them better speakers would have been equally valuable if he had wanted to make them better martial artists.
Who is Garr Reynolds?
Garr is the best selling author of Presentation Zen, a book about increasing simplicity and effectiveness in presentations. He was also a guest speaker at Google's impressive Authors@Google series, which can be found on youtube. For anyone who does presenting/teaching/powerpoints in their day-to-day lives, I highly recommend watching the full thing.
Garr is also an American living in Japan. He is Associate Professor of Management at Kansai Gaidai University located in Osaka.
So What Were the Quotes Used By Garr?
There are three quotes that Garr used that I would like to share with you. I'll provide the quote, the context with which he was using it, and my opinion as to how it relates to the martial arts.
Quote #1: "Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means." - Dr. Koichi Kawana (Architect of Zen and Tea Gardens).
Garr's Context: This quote was used to define simplicity. Garr was trying to explain how simple slides in powerpoint can be much more effective than clutter filled ones.
Simple doesn't just mean 'less' though. In order to achieve the kind of simplicity Dr. Kawana is referring to, one has to increase the impact of the message while decreasing the information given.
Martial Arts Implications: Aikido practitioners should be spitting coffee out of their mouths at this point. As I have come to understand it, Dr. Kawana's theory is almost word for word the desired effect of aikido technique. But it isn't just aikidoka who can benefit from this wisdom.
Karate technique often espouses 'one punch, one kill', which suggests eliminating an opponent as quickly and efficiently as possible. As such classical karate often does not translate well into tournaments and movies because the desired action of the karateka is sharp, quick, simple, and over.
Quote #2: "In the Beginner's mind there are many possibilities, In the experts mind there are few." - Shunryu Suzuki (Soto Zen Priest)
Garr's Context: With this quote Garr wanted to break people out of their box. The normal, 'expected' way to do powerpoint is by utilizing the 1:7:7 rule (one slide, seven bullets, seven words per bullet). Reynold's suggests that this is speedy passport to snoozeville and in order to keep a captive audience you have to give them something unexpected. To achieve the unexpected, you have to keep an open mind to new possibilities.
A child's mind (which of course is a beginner's mind) is not afraid of failure or judgment. A child will do silly, strange things simply because they want to try it and see what happens. Garr suggests that this same mindset can result in amazing presentation material.
Martial Arts Implications: Has anyone here not been told a hundred times to keep a beginner's mind? It's a fairly classic martial arts admonishment. This advice becomes particularly poignant as a person approaches black belt and beyond.
Even though a person must stay true to his/her style and pass it down as it was taught to them, they must also be free to explore their techniques and find what works for them. Until a practitioner opens themselves up to experimentation and failure, all they can ever be is a style robot.
Quote #3: "Master your instrument. Master your music. And then forget all that bullshit and just play." - Charlie Parker (Jazz Saxophonist and Composer)
Garr's Context: What Garr wanted to express here is the proper way to perform a presentation. All too often presenters are well prepared with good information, but they simply read that information off of slides or cue cards. The result is a boring, slavish dictation of facts and stats that has no emotion or power.
Garr wants you to master your story and statistics so that you can be free to rif on your subject matter, take tangents, and engage your audience in a completely original and provocative way.
Martial Arts Implications: A martial artist must figure out his/her body. They must also study their style vehemently. But when it comes time to become a martial artist all of that has to be loosened for self expression.
Technique must come from instinct, sincerity, and right reason. Everything that makes an artist what they are should be expressed in every technique. A kata, when done with meaning, should be unique and unrepeatable.
Two Analogies: The Mountain and the Tree
There are two major takeaways from the connection between Garr's speech and the martial ways, and both have a natural analogy that can be used to explain them.
The Tree - The different martial art styles are often said to be different branches of the same tree. Bruce Lee used this analogy from time to time and I am a big fan of it. However, we can also use this to visualize 'art' as a whole.
Artists, no matter how they express themselves, are branches of the same tree. Furthermore, practitioners of Jazz, Zen, Ichibana, Tea Ceremony, Painting, Jujitsu, etc can all benefit from the wisdom of masters like the ones cited above.
The Mountain - Even if all art is connected, why is it that masters always seem to draw similar conclusions? After all, Shunryu Suzuki sounds a lot like Morihei Ueshiba, who sounds a lot like Jigoro Kano.
The explanation for that lies in 'the mountain'. No matter where you start at the base of a mountain, there is only one location to ultimately arrive at - the top. The top is a single point of enlightenment. Needless to say, very very few people make it there (arguably none). But, as you get closer, the territory one covers gets smaller. As things get smaller, there is bound to be some crossover for those who are traveling.
It's quite possible that Suzuki, Ueshiba, and Kano all tread on the same ground, and would likely have much to discuss given the chance to sit down and enjoy some tea. Perhaps one day we can join in on the conversation too, but until then, let's enjoy the journey!
