Warding off the beasts.

During the last few months, I have read in the news about a tiger being warded off by a man and a shark fought off by a fourteen year old girl.

In the first true story, the man dug his fingers into the eyes of the attacking tiger before much damage had occurred. The pain in the eyes caused the tiger to rush off in retreat. Imagine that! Sometimes, our fingers can be the best weapon we can possess at all times.

In the second episode, that young New Zealand girl was attacked by a shark while bodyboarding with her younger brother. In facing the danger of being bitten by a 1.5 meter shark, that brave young lass hit the shark repeatedly with her bodyboard until the shark could no longer stand the pain, released her hip to run off from the super girl.

No, she was no super-girl. she was just an extraordinarily bold child who just had the presence of mind to do the right thing.

What can we learn from these two incidents? As I see it, those two people had no special weapons to drive off their attackers. However, both of them had their presence of mind and were brave enough to act with whatever they had at that time to overcome their problems. And all the girl had was a bodyboard. The only difference was that she acted immediately and repeatedly until she was released. As for the man, he had nothing but his own fingers, something almost every human has. However, we ought to realise that the fingers were used against a most vulnerable spot, the eye.

So, if any man or woman is attacked by any type of beast, be it in the form of a man or an animal, we must understand that the eyes are the most vulnerable part, no matter how strong the beast is. All it takes are two fingers and some force. At this point, someone may point out that it is rather cruel to dig out someone's eyes. Well, it depends upon the situation. If the beast (man or animal) is out to maim or kill or do something even worst, then there should be no scruples with digging out his eyes to safe oneself.

With an animal, there is no time to think and any delay in action may leave us with no opportunity to save ourselves. However, if it is a man-beast, and the beast is much stronger, perhaps waiting for an opportune moment could be wiser and also allow us the time to recover from whatever panic the attack could have caused. In this case, even wiles of any kind could be used to put ourselves into a more favourable position to act for our own safety.

As the little girl has done with the shark, a land shark could also be caused to retreat if a bag or something at hand which is hard enough to be put into use. An umbrella besides the pepper-spray can become a handy weapon to ward off any type of beast.

So, if we are prepared through the experiences of others, we have a better chance of overcoming an attacker. Well, we can never know when such knowledge can be put into use. The best thing is to be prepared. If such things never happen, well and good. However, we can never know for certain our future, so be ready, just in case. Take care.