FILIPINO KNIFE TRAINING
The study of Filipino knife fighting among Pinoys is not built on the idea of enjoying having the skills to kill another person. The very reason why we take this art very seriously and turning it into a mere spectacle of a sport of some sort is not a welcomed sight. Instead, we spar hard among ourselves with trusted friends in order to train to survive. We coach each other to correct our mistakes and push each other to develop our will. A mistake I did once was to go along with the hype of it all by turning it to a sport. Wherein real fighting skills were replaced by movements or skills just to win a match or score a point was the rules of the game. He who tags first gets the score with utter disregard of the sometimes fatal follow up that came after. Skills wherein people could never get away with in a real encounter. And then the winner beat their chest with pride thinking that the same skills would save him outside the streets. It is true that having some skill is better than none at all. And yes some of the acquired attributes developed through sports could be useful. But only if there is real understanding of the reality of a blade fight. We train as close as possible to what might happen and train as well under pressure even when Murphy's law starts to reveal its ugly head.
Not about killing? Now I won't deny that it is an art that could definitely take another persons life. It is still as a matter of fact a blade and no amount of sugar coating could ever change that reality. But training in it doesn't necessarily equate to a mentality of just doing it for the sake of learning how to kill. It is built on the philosophy of the will to live or the will to survive. A self preservation act wherein it includes not only the self but is extended to other humans as well. We train because we have to understand the mindset of a killer or a psychopath who use such weapons to take the life of a person with no remorse whatsoever. It is the same mindset and skills handed to us by our ancestors from generation to generation. I remember one of my interview to someone who had went in and out of prison for committing violent crimes and told me: Don't ever think that taking a persons life is easy. There is a serious burden which continues to dampens the soul ones you drain out a life of another human being. It could lead you to inner destruction and could eventually turn your life into nothing but darkness. Your life would be a living wasteland. (Huwag mo ispin na madali ang pumatay. May malaking pananagutan na kaakibat ito na maaring maging pabigat sa iyong kaluluwa kapag nakapatay ka. Maaring masira buhay mo sa kadiliman at mauwi sa kawalan ang saysay ng iyong buhay) This coming from a man who has had to kill for a living.
Bong Abenir
Abenir Kalis Blade Art
AK Kalistas Ilustrados
