The Mindset Of An Attack Victim

“I’ve taken that walk a thousand times and nothing has ever happened.”

“People like me don’t get attacked.” 

“I jog on that trail all the time. There are always other people on the trail. I’m fine.”

“I’m 6’3” and 230 pounds! I can protect myself.”

“I just go to work and home every day. I don’t go to places where attacks happen.”

“I carry a gun.”

“I have a knife.”

“I have pepper spray in my purse.”

“I’ve lived 45 years and I’ve never been attacked, not once.”

“I don’t need self defense. I’ve watched Bruce Lee movies all my life."

Every single one of these mindsets and many others like them are extremely dangerous and will likely result in a bad incident.

When I was 16, I was driving and loving it. My parent’s candy-apple-red Mustang and the metallic purple, fiberglass Dune Buggy dad and I built, complete with a chrome roll bar, bored and ported engine, Porsche clutch, traction breaks, sand tires an “aaah ooooh gaaa” horn and the ability to pop a wheelie, were just fun.

I had learned to drive a Volkswagen truck with a stick shift when I was 14, in the field behind our house. At 16, I was a confident driver. 

The problem was, I did not realize two things, the law of statistics and the unpredictable actions of other drivers. Parents, this short story is also for your teenage drivers. 

Hundreds of times, I had driven up to a stop light behind another car. The light then turned green and the car in front of me took off. Then, I took off. I had done this multiple times every day, for months, maybe a year or more.

I had NEVER had an accident!

Then one day there were a couple little unanticipated changes that occurred. I was “cooling’ it” in my parents Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon with the groovy fake wood site panels. A car coming from the other direction started to turn left, right toward me, just as I was about half way through the intersection. It surprised me and grabbed my attention for a second. Meanwhile, at exactly the same time, the car in front of me suddenly stopped because a boat was about to go under the draw bridge, which was about to be lifted. So the cars in front of him had to stop. 

When I turned back and noticed the car in front of me had suddenly stopped in the middle of the intersection, something that had NEVER happened before, it was too late. I slammed on my breaks, but still hit the car in front of me. 

That was a great lesson. The problem was that I was always driving too close to the car in front of me. I was always at risk, but did not realize it because I had gotten away with it hundreds, maybe thousands of times. The thought of something different happening never crossed my mind. However, it was only a matter of time. It was definitely going to happen. If not then, another time. If not because of that, then something else. 

It’s the same with speeding. If we speed, we will get away with it maybe thousands of times, but the law of statistics will catch up with us and we will see the bright, colorful lights in our rear view mirror or feel the violent impact of a crash.

Now, you might say that you never speed and you never tailgate the driver in front of you, but that does not change the fact that you will likely be in an accident, regardless. Why? Because you cannot predict the driving of another person who might be drunk, texting, tired, has a medical issue or is driving recklessly and you might just happen to be in the same place at the same time. Or, the road conditions and weather may be bad, or the brakes faulty. Maybe it’s just a 16-year old driver. 

Fortunately, most of us have survived these types of incidents, but personal attacks are typically much more serious.  

Just like driving too close or too fast will result in tickets and accidents, eventually, not being prepared for an attack will likely result in an attack with bad results.

Stopping the attack may not be something you have control over, but stopping a bad outcome is something you definitely have control over.

The attacker just PICKED you! Now what?

It wasn’t because you were careless, or asking for it, but just because you were there. There are a thousand reasons an attacker picks a particular person. The reasons won’t matter as much as the outcome. That will matter.

Thankfully, this young lady and her parents, changed their mindset and it saved the daughter and a friend when they were violently attacked.

Very few people want to be attacked. There may be a few mentally ill who are wanting to try out their new weapon or self defense skills, but you are not one of them. 

I know of many, many people who have said every one of the above quotes to themselves or others who were subsequently violently attacked and raped, killed or injured. In every case, the person did not believe it could or would happen to them. It was a shocking surprise. After all, it never had happened before. 

Sadly, most people prepare to prevent or stop an attack only after it happens to them or to someone close to them like a family member, friend or someone in the news whose story they can, in some way, identify with.

How can you change this? SIMPLE.

You become situationally aware to reduce, but not eliminate the risk. A good self defense class can help with this. Then, you make sure you have a force-multiplier. That can include a gun, but better not only be a gun.

The D.A.D.® 2 is by far, the best non-lethal means of personal protection for very specific and proven reasons. Purchasing and using a D.A.D.® 2 properly will dramatically improve your chance of not being harmed when the attack happens….and, the likelihood that you will actually be able to use a D.A.D.® 2 in an actual attack is far greater than the chance of using other devices for reasons that are proven and clearly explained in other blogs and on our web site at tigerlight.net

Be smart. Get a D.A.D.® 2.