I wonder what people in unsafe neighbourhoods can do. My family didn't live in an unsafe neighbourhood. But one night, when going out on a walk with my dad, we got attacked by a bunch of kids with mace. It was totally set up. We walked by a kid, he yelled, "don't push me!" Then a bunch of his friends and him came to us and said, "hey, this guy says you pushed him." They surrounded us. One kid hit the back of my head, my dad saw that he was about to do something and yelled at him, then that kid sprayed my dad's face. I've never seen someone in so much agony. It was like my dad had lost all sense of reasoning.
This is a benefit of living in a nice area and should not be taken for granted.
The weirdest experience about all of that? Just a bunch of high school kids, I was bigger than all of them. If we came to blows, I'm pretty sure I could have taken them. But my mind was processing everything in super slow motion. I'm not sure if it was panic; maybe more like incredulous shock - I can't believe this is actually happening, deer in headlights kind of thing. And it was dark, so during the session when we were trying to identify the kids from photos the next day at the police station, I actually couldn't recognize anyone in the photos. Weird, because I thought I should have been able to do so.
That sucks. This slow motion perception is a typical fight or flight response. If you are interested in gaining more control over these sorts of situations (and I hope you won't need to) I would recommend taking up a martial art. You can do that with your dad!
Well, it was a few years ago, and I'm not at home anymore. As well, like I said, it's a safe neighbourhood in general. Yeah, I can see how a martial art will help. I bet it develops mental focus in that type of situation, as well as muscle memory as to what to do.
This is a benefit of living in a nice area and should not be taken for granted.
The weirdest experience about all of that? Just a bunch of high school kids, I was bigger than all of them. If we came to blows, I'm pretty sure I could have taken them. But my mind was processing everything in super slow motion. I'm not sure if it was panic; maybe more like incredulous shock - I can't believe this is actually happening, deer in headlights kind of thing. And it was dark, so during the session when we were trying to identify the kids from photos the next day at the police station, I actually couldn't recognize anyone in the photos. Weird, because I thought I should have been able to do so.