The Bellicose Spirit

It's all in whatever you've got to get out of your system. Kinda like you've gotta do unto others what they've done to you. There is a character I work with who seems to have an unlimited reservoir of pent-up anger. Much of this is I believe from a somewhat tumultuous upbringing, being bounced from place to place and of course having to re-adjust time after time. And some of it is just from his particular body chemistry. He loves Football and MMA(mixed martial arts)and is smart enough to do Sudoku and the like but prefers video games where something or someone gets blown up.

The other day, late in the day, several of us were sitting around in the break room, and he was feeling a bit keyed up. "Man, I'd love to see somebody get beat up", he told us. Not a fight as such, mind you- just someone getting the daylights beat out of them. And then relayed a story from his middle or high school days of someone getting pounded into dog meal- which still gives me the willies...

Actual violence in general gives me the willies. Just the rawness of it, the horror.Can't stand to see it. But I must admit I enjoy a good boxing or karate match, provided some degree of sportsmanship is observed(I once observed a boxer sucker-punching his opponent after the match, knocking him out cold, but that's another story)and it's not a completely one-sided affair. And knockouts are cool to see, even though you don't want to see anyone seriously injured in the process. It's the action you like to see, not the damage.

I think my co-worker has a few extra issues here, a few 'injustices' to avenge in one form or another. It's somehow cathartic for him to see someone trampled on a football field or beaten insensible in a mixed martial arts match- he's getting even with someone or something from his past. But most of us have a little of that in us, usually coupled with revulsion: the car crash we can't quite turn away from. I think here of the Thomas Wolfe short story where he relates the horror and fascination on the faces of the men and women at a dance where one man beat another man to death.

There are people from my past who have I felt treated me unfairly at times, and thus whose behavior angers me when I think of it. And yes, I've vividly imagined those folks being viciously pummeled throughout the midsection, interspersed with a couple good shots to the snotlocker and one or two right in the kisser. But strangely enough, in real life I wouldn't want to see them hurt--maybe grabbed and shaken vigorously but not really hurt.

It's not the violence as such but the motivation behind it that gives me the creeps. The three boxing matches between Irish Mickey Ward and Arturo Gatti were as brutal as they come, yet it was for the sport- to win the contest, not demolish your opponent just to do it. These guys were the best of friends outside the ring and had a deep mutual respect inside it.

True, there are pressure-points that if tapped correctly will make an early night for your opponent: the point of the chin, the sternum, the temple, right below the ear(a bundle o' nerves there). One of Mickey Ward's trademark punches was that shot to the liver. If landed just right it causes your opponent excruciating pain for about 10 seconds. This seems to serve a dual purpose: if in a boxing match, long enough to be counted out; in real life, long enough for you to get a good running start and get the hell out of there!

I hope my friend from work is able to exorcise some of these demons of his. Revenge ain't necessarily the answer though, whether actual or virtual. There are a few characters from my past, two in particular, whom I've imagined beating the stuffings out of. Mainly knocking the wind out of both of them. But in the fantasy, strangely enough, I feel bad after the damage is done and end up buying their drinks for the rest of the night.