Old Age and Treachery Wins

Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance. David Mamet

When I was younger, my dad always used to tell me that, “A boy will fight you, but a man will hurt you.” My dad grew up in the South, where fighting is pretty much something that we did a lot of as boys, but older men had no patience for playing around. Many of the older men would either cripple you or just plain shoot you, if you started any crap with them.

In Mississippi, and across the South, there is a lot of gossip, but when it comes to serious business, people keep their mouth shut. If you cross the wrong man, you will simply disappear, forever. People think that you just moved away for some reason, but the alligators and snapping turtles know different.

Boys see fighting as a way to prove themselves. Back then, I learned to fight by fighting, not by going to a dojo taught by someone instructor who had never been in a fight in his life. I also learned from men who would really mess you up, and had done so on many occasions.

The difference between them and me, back then, is that I had limits. I knew that I could get in a fight and give another boy black eyes, a busted lip and a busted nose without getting in any serious trouble. In fact, my dad told me that if I ever backed down from a fight, that I would get a much worse beating when I got home. So I never backed down, even with much larger boys, and I learned how to fight on the streets.

But it wasn’t until much later that I learned what this quote meant. Even though I don’t fight much anymore, like I used to, I am much more dangerous now than I was when I fought all the time. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it is completely true. Now, not only have I had many years of serious training, plus my street experience, but I am also not interested in proving anything to anyone.

As a boy, I was always proving who was tougher or that I wasn’t afraid of this guy or that guy. I also knew where the limits were as far as really injuring someone. As a man, I don’t fight for petty, ridiculous reasons. In fact, I won’t fight at all if I don’t have to; it has to be a serious situation.

But when I do, there are no rules — I fight to win! And I am not concerned with not seriously injuring the guy who is trying to hurt me or my family; in fact, that is my intent. And I don’t know any men, at least men who I consider a real man, who don’t have this same attitude about defending themselves and their family.

Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance because old men are deadly serious. They are not willing to trade punches and possibly sustain another injury. They have had all the injuries and pain they care to deal with, and they are serious about doing whatever it takes to stay alive and with as little pain as possible.

Treachery is not a bad a thing when it comes to fighting. In fact, Sun Tzu taught that, “All warfare is based on deception.” Whenever you feint in a fight, you are being deceptive, which is basically what treachery is. All that means is that you will do whatever it takes to win, as you should in any fight.

Boys don’t have this attitude. They don’t have the experience and can’t really comprehend an old man’s way of thinking. When you hear someone going on and on about fighting honorably, you know they have the attitude of a boy, not an experienced man who understands what fighting is all about. Boys simply think they know and think are tough.

But the old man knows they aren’t tough. He has seen tough. He has been there and done that. He knows the difference between playing around and ending a threat. He knows that there are no rules in a real fight — treachery is the name of the game, and he plays it well.

True martial artists are like a well-experienced, older man. They will not fight unless they have to, but when they do, they don’t hold back. They finish the fight by any means possible. They don’t go around bragging about what they can do; they simply know what they can do, do it only if they have to, and do it well.

It will serve you well to remember that old age and treachery will always triumph over youth and exuberance. Remember, an old warrior is old for a reason. He didn’t get to be old because he was incapable of taking care of himself. Bohdi Sanders ~ author of BUSHIDO: The Way of the Warrior, available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884201 or from The Wisdom Warrior website at: https://thewisdomwarrior.com. Also, check out my #1 Bestsellers, MODERN BUSHIDO and MEN of the CODE!