About 20 years ago I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Bob Orlando (who passed in 2016).  Mr. Orlando was a very inspirational person, a great martial artist, and a pacifist.  While I have seen this quote attributed to others, and I recently saw somebody try to take credit for the expression themselves, I believe Mr. Orlando was the person who actually coined the phrase.

"​Only somebody who knows how to defend themselves can choose pacifism; all others are condemned to it."​

There are a few other iterations, but the main crux of the expression is that you cannot choose to be peaceful; you cannot call yourself a pacifist... if you don't have the tools to make a different decision in a situation that may warrant it.  

Interestingly enough, I've found that most of the highly skilled martial artists I know are often incredibly peaceful people.  I'm not talking about "fighters."  Those folks fall into the "martial athlete" category.  That's a completely different area, and those folks are rarely people that I would consider "martial artists."  And, they are rarely peaceful people.  (While very popular and often characterized in movies and put up on pedestals on television, martial athletes tend to give us martial artists a bad name.)  

With that said, there are many times in life where somebody might treat you badly.  You may be insulted; your beliefs may be ridiculed, and you may be called something... inappropriate.  This can definitely bring rise to anger- understandably.  It's at this point that you have a decision to make.  The right decision is usually to just turn the other cheek.  Repaying disrespect with disrespect is not a peaceful approach and does not yield a positive result.  However, if a situation were to arise where the martial artist needed to defend him/herself, or somebody else, the martial artist can do this- because they have the knowledge to choose such a path.  

Do you have that knowledge?  If you had to, would you be able to defend yourself or your loved ones?  If not, I do encourage you to learn.  You can start today by scheduling an appointment for a free introductory session.  

We offer several different martial arts classes at Plus One, and Karate is one of the styles we teach.  So, what does the word Karate mean?  It translates to ​"empty hands."​  When I was younger, in order to help us understand what it was we were learning, we would recite the following [Kenpo Creed] from Ed Parker.

​I come to you with only Karate. Empty hands, I have no weapons.  But, should I be forced to defend myself, my principles or my honor, should it be a matter of life or death, of right or wrong, then here are my weapons- Karate, my empty hands.  

**Somewhat comical side note related to pacifism.  Also when I was younger, I asked one of my instructors about pacifism.  He said, "Yes, I'm a pacifist.  If you pass-a-fist, I pass-a-fist." **

I stopped training with him a long time ago. :-)