Avoiding trouble is the key. Our city recently had a big yearly event downtown that received a lot of media coverage. Unfortunately, there was some trouble when somebody starting shooting a handgun and many people were injured.

As I watched the violence unfold on the news I noticed many young teens and children out. Mind you this shooting happened late at night and unfortunately this event is known to bring a certain amount of trouble after hours. So my question is, why were those young people out there and exposed to danger in the first place?

The 5 Fold Path of the Warrior says:

Avoid before check

Check before hurt

Hurt before maim

Maim before kill

For every life is precious and none may be replaced

The 5 Fold Path of the Warrior tries to give sort of a continuum when dealing with violence. The first step in the continuum is avoid. We should all make every effort to keep ourselves away from situations if we know that they may put us in harm’s way.

As a human being you should be able to go to any part of the world, country, state, neighborhood without having to worry about violence. The sad fact of the matter is, you can’t. Because we can’t we need to be aware and be sure we do everything we can to avoid these situations.