PeaceWalker Blog

I was recently asked to be a panelist on a community meeting regarding Gun Violence in Schools. I somewhat reluctantly accepted... Why?! Because some of these meetings are healthy and beneficial. Others are just a circus of minefields, agendas, fear, anger and soapboxes. None of which I have any interest in. I will know tomorrow night at the event whether or not I made a wise decision regarding being a part of this event. DIY v. It Takes a Village It seems that there are two main ways many people are coming at this "gun violence in schools" issue. 1) This group believes that we need to restrict or ban guns so that dangerous people can't have access to them. I call these people the "It Takes a Village". The "It Takes a Village" perspective believes that we as a society shouldn't have the need for the citizens to have access to weapons personally, because "the Tribe" (Society: a.k.a. police and/or militar

Ok, Spoiler Alert!!!! That title is a bit of a stretch... A bit of an exaggeration even... However, it is something that I did that was avoidable even with all of my "Conflict Management" experience... Do you remember that old adage, “Praise in public. Criticize in private.” Well... the EPIC FAILURE I am referring to is regarding that saying... Here I am a conflict management 'expert' and I didn't abide by this very old and simple rule... Why?! Because I'm some jerk?! NO... I wasn't really trying to be, I just didn't think the situation was that big of a deal. However, I didn't consider what the other person had into it!   The result was hurt feelings, that could probably have avoided had I been thinking more about how the other person would feel about it. A part of me knew that it might end up being a sensitive issue, yet it didn't register enough for me to act on it... I underestimat

No, that bald guy isn't me... However there is a 'striking' resemblance! Is Krav Maga Enough!? You may think this headline is surprising coming from someone (me) who teaches Krav Maga... Let me explain... In today's day and age being able to physically defend yourself is a good start, but it isn't enough!! You have to have more social skills! I know that may be difficult to believe in an age where we don't seem to interact face to face very well at all! However, believe it or not, the way we socially interact has become much more complicated.   Just look at how kids interact with their parents now-a-days... When I was a kid, if I dared to talk back, show the attitude or disobey my parents, it wasn't a long drawn out sparring match of deescalating, negotiating and rationalizing... Nope, it was a much shorter matter altogether... It was a simple 3 step process: (1) Ask (2) Tell (3) Feel the consequenc

Jeff rocking out his new Krav shirt he got at last weekend's 2.25 Crash Course! Yesterday, I almost took a pic of me in my shorts, flip flops and Bahamas Hard Rock Cafe' t-shirt. Why?! Because it was sunny here and going up to 80! ...And although today is rainy, it's still warm! Spring's Here!! As if things couldn't get better after this weekend's Krav Maga Assault Prevention & Response 'Crash Course'! People came from all over to train here in GR w/us. Winnipeg, Canada, Texas, Upper State Michigan, and of course locally. We had a pretty full house of folks who were looking to be introduced to or hone their skills as PeaceWalkers! Not only did we work on ways of protecting ourselves physically, we also explored awareness skills, and some of the simple 'practical' psychology of how aggressors choose the environment and their targets when it comes to violence and crime. We also looked at their method of engagemen