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Control and lack of control
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
June 26, 2025, Israel
At a certain point in our lives, we must reach the conclusion that there are things beyond our control. The movement of the stars and planets, the sun and the moon, the nature of mankind, the way we are born.
There are people who think they can change everything. But the truth is the range of things we can change, is rather limited, and yet, it is very significant.
The little we can change can have a huge impact on the world, and on our own lives. The wisdom is in knowing what to focus on.
I am sitting at home now; we are still at war even though we have brokered a probably brief ceasefire with one of the many countries trying to annihilate us. We have lost thousands of lives, and that is the greatest tragedy. And yet, we each must go on with our own lives, no one will pity us, and no one will take care of us. So we do what we can.
I personally have suffered through 3 years of Corona inspired restrictions, plus 2 years of war. Of course I am not alone, but each one is affected differently. If you work online, odds are the effect is less than if you are a tour guide. Practically no tourists for the past 5 years. For me the result is cancelled seminars, nearly no incoming students for our various training camps, as well as a worldwide reduction in spending. In addition, many students within Israel have stopped attending class out of anxiety, they fear the open roads at night. So what can a guy do?
I could apply for early retirement and call it a day.
What I am actually is; working on those things that I can do, I am writing blogs, I am editing old blogs, I am working on improving our own line program. I am developing new techniques with the few dedicated students who still show up. I am devoting many hours daily to detailed explanation of those techniques for our online Krav Maga distance program.
I am doing what I can in the areas where I have some control. And here is my point; There are areas in our lives where we have control and there are areas in our lives where we must concede that it is out of our control. I cannot open the airport when it is closed. I cannot change the fact that several European countries have issued Travel Advisory notices against us and will not offer travel insurance. I cannot change the currency regulations. What I can do is work harder in the few areas that are still open to me, such as improving our online training program, responding to e mails and offering "customer support".
The same is true in the way we approach our Krav Maga training. We understand there are areas or aspects over which we have no control. Unlike other styles we do not try to overpower our opponents if they are larger than us. We accept reality. If the attacker is a large muscular male and the defender is a short petite female, all the cool boxing in the world, or kung foolery or what have you, will not make a difference. I just read the Swiss national soccer team lost 7 to 1 in an exhibition match to a junior high boys' team. The boys were 14 years old. A big issue in the news these days are men pretending to be women and competing in women's sports, a swimmer ranked 463 or so becomes a number 1 in womens' swimming. What does this tell us about the physical differences? So why do martial arts instructors teach women techniques that have a very small chance of success? We all saw the exhibition match were Joe Hess accidently knocked out a female black belt with one kick. If we want women to be able to defend themselves, if we want anyone to be able to defend themselvs, we must be realistic. We cannot live in a martial arts fantasy world. This is not Cobra Kai.
Our approach is we recognize the aspects of life that we cannot change; the opponent may be much larger and stronger, and younger, we may be caught by surprise, we may be outnumbered. We take all this into account when developing our techniques. We do not train our students that they must gain more muscle, become stronger and faster, rather we teach them to use what they already have, their natural body strength. We teach how to generate the maximum out of what you already have. We teach how to use more of your body against less of the opponent's. We teach Total Body Movement and Gross Motor Skills rather than trying to develop Fast as Lightening techniques.
We begin with a realistic assessment of the person, of all of us, we use the tools that we have, we focus on what we can do, not on what we have no control over. You may be tall, short, fat, thin, old, young, quick, slow. You may have flat feet, missing an arm, a bad knee, a bad shoulder, or a bad memory. We work with what we have control over.
There are those who cancelled regular seminars due to financial reasons, they are those who are currently afraid of coming to Israel, there are those who are out of work. We do what we can with what we have. And within this range, we can still make a world of a difference.
Moshe Katz, 7th dan Black Belt, Israeli Krav Maga. Certified by Wingate Institute. Member Black Belt hall of fame, USA and Europe.
Understand the Israeli Fighting Mentality - Israel a Nation of Warriors by Moshe Katz
What is the cultural background of Krav Maga? What makes it unique? What makes the Israeli military so effective? Why are Israeli security systems used all over the world?
What are the Biblical origins of Krav Maga and who was the first Krav Maga instructor?
What weapons and military strategies did our Biblical ancestors use?
How has Krav Maga developed in Israel and what are its goals?
All that and more in this unique book.
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