Power of Fear

I think that is what the criminal class learns and uses.  Just threaten somebody with pain and suffering and they'll do what you want.  Getting someone to do what you want is power.  Freud said that there were two main reasons why people do what they do: 1) urge to be great and 2) the sex urge.  Someone once said that you can tell all about someone just by discovering what makes them feel important ( or great).  The criminal gets his feeling of importance from the fear he arouses in people and the power that it gives him.

I just heard a story about from someone I know who got a knife pulled on him.  Obviously, the dude pulling the knife was tapping in the power just mentioned.  If confronted with such a scenario, what do you do about it?  Fight or flight?  Maybe a combination of both?  Maybe fighting later, but running right now.  That's a compromise solution.  If you want to teach the bad guy a lesson, you may try going through the legal process. But what if that doesn't work?  Then he will just laugh at you.

That kinda reminds me of the opening scene of the Godfather.  The undertaker, Bonasera, comes to Don Vito Corelone for help.  He wants justice because the legal system wouldn't give him justice.  And the guys who ruined his daughter only laughed at him when they got off with a suspended sentence.  The Godfather knew what to do about the punks who ruined the undertaker's daughter.  The undertaker knew this, but he didn't know how to get the help he needed.  And he couldn't do it himself.  Aren't we all like that?  Aren't we all looking around for justice and having to go to a Godfather to get it? The legal system won't protect you, that's what the Godfather depended on.

Someone reading this may think I am advocating violence to resolve disputes.  Far from it.  But by the same token, you can't leave violence out of consideration.  If the legal system won't defend you, then you will need something or someone to back you up.  If that fails too, then you may be forced to rely solely upon yourself.  When it comes to that, you're going to have to find out what you capable of and be prepared to do it when you have to.