Random train of thought enters brain.
Trigger unknown and forgotten. Might be a Facebook comment thread about an Oblique Strategy. Might be my protective paternal instinct crossing the street with a stroller making sure there are no idiots doing California stops at the nearest intersection.

The question I pose today is: “who would you rather fight? Someone who’s got nothing to lose, or everything to lose?”

NOTHING TO LOSE
So, your opponent’s got nothing to lose. Beaten down by society, life, job, family loss. Down in the dumps with nowhere to look but up. Nothing can hurt that person anymore. Physical pain don’t matter no more. This is an opponent who will take you down even if it means down with you, not just putting you down. That’s a dangerous opponent, the caged, wounded animal going into a berserk’s rage. Like the Captain in “300” after his son got beheaded.

EVERYTHING TO LOSE
That’s the opponent with a family, responsibilities, duty to a team/platoon/troop/battalion. There is little reward in fighting you, so it’s not worth the risk. Faced with the inevitable, that opponent visualizes the worst case scenario, develops the awareness necessary to minimize the risks to self and therefore all responsibilities. That opponent knows there can only be one outcome, that in which you lose. Once the fight begins, that is where it is going.

THE WAY OF THE NINJA
We hold 2 salutes. One with an open hand over a closed fist, one with a closed hand, covering the knuckles of the closed fist. The latter means “I have duties, therefore cannot do battle with you”, the former “I have no obligations to which YOU may be obligated to in the event of my maiming or death”. Back in the days of old, you hurt someone, you take on their duties. Few hold such honor in their actions these days.

So, who would you rather fight?