When is it time to stand up and fight?

I spent a good portion of today watching the Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. Holy smokes, there was some sweet ass-kicking, blood-spitting, bone-crunching action! Yep, the testosterone got pumping, just like it will tomorrow with football.

Personally, however, I haven't had a fist fight since my brothers and I were kids. It's worked out fine for me - considering I have nightmares about being in fights and my punches come off in painfully slow motion and ALWAYS miss their mark. These dreams really don't give me much confidence in my fighting abilities...

Roger Waters sings in his song "Home":

"When the cowboys and Arabs draw down
On each other at noon
In the cool dusty air of the city boardroom
Will you stand by a passive spectator
Of the market dictators
Will you discreetly withdraw
With your ear pressed to the boardroom door
Will you hear when the lion within you roars
Will you take to the hills...
Will you stand for it..."

So when is it time to fight?

A friend of mine is fighting city hall. The zoning in her neighborhood is being changed from residential to commercial. The bottom line being that once a business moves into a building - once a house is razed to become a shop - the property can never go back to a residence.

This friend of mine is studying previous city council moves and resolutions to understand her best plan of attack. She is also informing her neighbors and trying to get them involved as well.

These things will help if you abide by Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". Mr. Tzu believes in some essentials for victory, including:

* He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
* He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
* He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
* He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.

In addition, I think that if you're going to fight, you need to remain calm under pressure. From what I understand about it, during military training, soldiers are taught this through repetition. Repetition of essential tasks and repetition of decision-making in high stress situations. You know, like repetition.

I myself am working on remaining calm under pressure. It's a necessary and essential skill for playing darts.

Many years ago, my brother Van asked me to complete a psychological questionnaire about him for one of his clases. In this questionnaire, I remember making the statement that I thought Van was too even-keeled. That perhaps he would find life a much richer experience if he allowed himself to get excited (or perhaps even depressed) a little more often.

And oddly enough, I think of that every time I request Dr. Ron Bacardi to help me medicate myself while playing darts. See, if I get nervous or excited, then my throwing stroke gets tight, and I lose control over my dart (dang, how's that for a potential double entendre?!). But if I am able to suppress that tension, then I can throw closer to my capabilities.

Of course, repetition through practice would likely help that, too.

So what makes it the right time to fight? What would make you roll up your sleeves and and throw a haymaker at someone's noggin?

Ironically, it could be argued that passion is the fuel of war. Yet isn't passion also the fuel of love?