First Robbery‏

I was robbed at threat of violence yesterday for the first time,

naturally my first inclination was to write about it:

http://what-are-my-options.blogspot.com/2010/06/170-ars-for-my-life-dale.html

I've lived here for 2 years and never had an incident like that. It's

made me realize that the most basic thing, before weapons or

self-defense training, is pulling your head out of the cloud of

distractions and being aware of your surroundings. I was walking on

the dark side of Juan B. Justo, near the train tracks, that was my

first mistake. Nobody walks on that side because it's an easy scalp

for a thief. I crossed over on the last block before the subway

because the traffic gave the opportunity, thinking it was an efficient

way to minimize my travel time, quite the Yankee mentality.

You've talked a lot about being aware and projecting a "don't fuck

with me attitude" instead of a "clueless tourist" or "helpless victim"

vibe, but if you do find yourself accosted by armed thieves, what's

your call? In this case these kids just had a puny knife, the other

kid had his hands in his pockets as a bluff, could have had a piece,

probably didn't. I figured I could probably handle it and I'm

physically about as framed as both of them put together, but I've got

family to take care of, didn't think it was worth the risk.

Where do you draw the line on discretion?

--

Patrick

Hi Patrick, sorry to hear that man. Sounds like ordinary "rateros".

If you live in Buenos Aires, its pretty much a matter of time for most people to get robbed. All things considered, you were lucky. You don’t need me to tell you that though, you can hear it every single day about people getting murdered in Buenos Aires for their car, sometimes just a couple pesos. You still don’t understand Patrick, THEY CAN KILL YOU AND NOT SEE A DAY IN JAIL. Even for adults, in socialist Argentina, a criminal is a poor victim of society, while you are the blood thirsty assassin if you dare train to defend yourself, let alone carry a weapon.

I don’t think you realize the seriousness of the situation here. Why do you think no one else was walking on that side of the street, by the train? Most Argies would know better.

In spite of making the mistake of being there in the first place and getting caught by surprise, you handled things well: A few bucks is not worth getting stabbed. Even having a throw away wallet with a few bucks is a good idea. Even if armed, its MUCH cheaper and less hassle to just give the little punks some money and go your way. It’s the cheapest, fastest solution.

Having said that there are other situations where you may not want to surrender, or where doing so is likely going to get you or your loved ones killed or worse anyway. For that, I’d recommend taking a few self defense classes and learning how to use weapons, and for that I cant recommend Jorge Baigorria enough. Again, sorry that you had to go through that, but as I said before and you hear on the news everyday, count your blessings, you were pretty lucky.

Where to draw the line? Its not easy, and you'll have to forever live (or die) with the choice you mkae in that split second. At least for me, a few bucks, even my car key, its not worth the corpse to explain, now when my family is invovled or when I see that it could end up in a situation I could regret the rest of my life (forced inside your home, kidnaped , etc) that's where I draw the line.

FerFAL