Is the rabbit a martial artist?

There is a joke saying "The rabbit has a real personality, he sits among weed all day and still he doesn't smoke it". It would be a bit harsh if I said this joke alone made me thinking about martial arts, but it has something to do with it. It is said a great martial artist doesn't use his powers although he could kill others easily. A bit of philosophy about who a great martial artist can be below.

I think there might be two basic reasons for not fighting. One is that someone doesn't have anything to prove, the other is that someone can't prove anything. The first is the martial artist, the second is the rabbit. Before going into my martial artist thought experiment, I need to express I'm definitely a rabbit.

There are several stories about various people travelling on the train who are approached by drunken, shouting and strong men. I read about a weak, old man (in some stories, O'Sensei, who was obviously not described as 'weak' in the story) who was almost attacked. Also, I read about strong aikidoka who were confronted. None of these situations ended up in a fight (or beating). Why was that? I agree with all the story tellers that it was because violence was not the solution.

If it comes to a fight there will be losers, usually more than one. One may end up in hospital, the other behind bars. The old man (except in the O'Sensei story) wouldn't have had a chance to fight, and shouting or begging for mercy would probably have resulted at least in being thrown into the corner. The strong aikidoka would have pinned down the attacker and saved others in the carriage but the attacker would still have lost without any chance of coming out of the situation well. So these people didn't fight. They connected to the attacker, redirected, neutralised the attack but not the attacker. All these were achieved without muscles, just by talking. Connecting to the needs of these drunk people (who usually tell the truth and react from their heart), redirecting their anger (and turning it into a conversation about something the attacker wanted/needed), and after these, the attack simply disappeared.

There are situations, obviously, when simple talk does not solve the problem, but I believe applying aikido principles in talking and everyday situations are important and effective. For unstoppable attackers with no minds, you still have the option of using ikkyo or running away like a rabbit (possibly, hiding like a rabbit).

Who knows, maybe the rabbit is a great martial artist who just doesn't want to use his powers (one notable exception is from Monty Python and The Holy Grail :)). 

It is more likely, however, that the rabbit doesn't fight because he wouldn't win and, although it's a very nice idea that everyone wins, it's not always possible, and not too many people want to lose even if everyone else wins. Don't move, stay calm and maybe nothing will happen. Run and maybe they won't catch you. If the 'maybes' don't work at least you tried. I often confuse these two situations and run away when I just need to wait a bit more, or stay put (but not really calm) when I need to act and run. Not having mastered martial techniques, these two rabbit behaviours are the ones I tend to use if the situation becomes demanding. So what do we do if we only have the run or hide, no fight and no other tools to resolve a situation?

There are very simple examples in my life for running or hiding, and particularly, mixing up the two. There is no need to imagine a fight-for-your-life situation to find such examples. For instance, it often happens that the cashier asks a sudden (and unexpected) question when it's my turn to pay in the supermarket. Questions like 'do you need a bag?' can cause a reaction of a 1-2 second 'umm..err..' (hiding, or more like being paralysed) because it's unexpected, given that the bags are about 20cm from me and I can simply reach for them and take one (they are free, as of now) if I need one (umm..err.. usually covers up my exact thoughts 'why the hell would you ask this question if the bags are right here, I take one if I need it?'). So on one hand, I look like an idiot, on the other hand, I save the situation by not saying anything too directly, and also, a 2 second 'umm..err..' is much shorter than the 'why the hell...' sentence so if I want to be unreasonably optimistic, I could say 'what a quick thinking man!' :D:D.

And when do I run when staying would be preferable? Let's see. I sometimes procrastinate and say "I'll do it tomorrow". The problem is that whatever I need to do will come back tomorrow and then I will need to run again, or stay and do it. Anyway, probably not the best example, but true situation.

The moral is that we should train our body and mind hard to become great martial artists who use nonviolent ways to solve situations, and who do not need to use our physical or mental powers to control others instead of establishing a connection with them.

ps: Sorry about the bad example paragraph, it seems I'm getting tired for today :).