Rio de Janeiro is a wonderful city that's for sure, full of beaches, monuments, natural landscapes, nice food, beautiful people... Yes, but as all cities, it has its quota of distress.
We are in the middle of a grand event also known as World Cup. And for as much as it is not taking place in Brazil, we Brazilians make it a festival anyways and all days Brazil has a match, schools dismiss students, public services declare holiday and even private companies shorten their working period! One magical thing about being Brazilian is all that atmosphere of union we feel towards our soccer team selection despite our political and economical situation (but that's a subject for another post).
Anyhow, I left (one of) my job and went to the bus stop, which is usually empty, full of people that night. So that you understand, that street is partially lighted, not many people walk around at night and that bus stop in particular is not very safe... Also, I'm a girl, walking alone, after a full day of college and work. I thought I'd be safe and sound surrounded by people, even though I kept my radar on.
One thing I've learned when practicing Krav Magá is that we must always be on our guard the moment we step outside. So there was I: tired and asleep, waiting for the bus home... And an old brown car starts drifting off towards the bus stop and putting down the glasses. I had but a glance of three gunned man inside it and started running away. I didn't think, I didn't care, I just ran. I ran so fast and entered a building trying to hide myself. When I looked behind I saw all people back there handing their cellphones and the car gone without a trace.
After making sure the thieves were gone, I went back to the bus stop to hear that the criminals said "don't walk, don't run, that's an assalt", but I guess I didn't quite hear it because I was already running. One of the boys there handed his "thief's cellphone". What's that you ask? It's our dear nickname for "an older cell which we don't use anymore, but the carry it in order to give to a thief I'm case he/she asks for it", got it? We cariocas have a kinda "spare cell" to hand in to a thief so they might spare our lives!
That makes me very sad indeed... We were all students, workers, people waiting for public transportation robbed by people in a car! I'm not even sure if that were real guns, but I wouldn't be the one to try and verify.
I had Krav Magá lessons for about four years at an early age. And for as much as I take pride in it, our instructor always told us we had to be so much good at it that we wouldn't never have to really use it in a real situation. We should be so good to scape the situation even before it happened, just like a chess game where we forsee our oponent's next 5 moves. I keep my four belts hanging on the wall, for they are a dear part of my life, but sometimes I do feel nostalgic and resentful that I cannot find time to go back practicing it. Sometimes I even feel ashamed of displaying them for I don't know if Krav Magá lessons are still with me...
What I did there was reckless and stupid? Maybe.
Would I have done it in a different way? Definitely not!
I kept my physical integrity. I scaped. I still have my phone with me. I didn't have to use any self defense techniques.
I am only upset because this kind of thing still happens. I'm upset that my fellow citizens are threatened everyday just by steping out of home. I'm upset that thieves like those remain unpunished.
Well, at least about my Krav Magá, I guess I had a confirmation that night: what we learn with passion, knowledge our teachers/instructors pass on to us, what we really aprehend will always be there for us, with us. Things we learn never truly leave us. And we must always be learning! In all possible areas.