> I used to practice a martial art called 'aikido'. Aikido is a defensive
> martial art in which the object is to defend yourself non-violently.
> This is done by neutralizing and/or immobilizing the attacker, instead
> of responding with strikes, chokes, etc.  Sometimes this question would
> come up to an instructor: 
>            "If an aikidoist fought other types of martial artists in a street
> fight, who would win?" 
> The instructor would evasively answer the question, by saying:
>    "A real aikidoist would never be in a street fight." 
You had a bad instructor, David dear.  A good istructor would have said:
     "A real aikidoist does not fight to win."
Too bad, you could have learned a lot from Aikido.
Prof. Tim