A friend just showed me these Ameriquest Mortgage commercials, made around the theme “don’t judge too quickly”:

The premise is simple, all the situations are innocent, but if you walked into the situation at just the right time the impression you receive could be rather different than the reality of the situation.

When it comes to self-defense situations, there are some situations that are cut and dry. For instance, if someone is attacking me, it’s clear cut that I’ll be involved. If someone is attacking my wife or children, it’s clear cut that I will become involved. But what about some other situations?

For instance, you’re at the gas station or a convenience store and a scumbag comes in and holds up the place. What do you do? Do you get involved? That’s far less clear cut. Some would say yes they would get involved, but what are the legal implications? What are the liabilities? Is it worth dying over?

In the above situations, things look as they seem. But in the spirit of “don’t judge too quickly”, what if you happen upon a situation in progress? For instance, you pull up to the convenience store just as people are running out and someone yells “stop that man!”. Your gut reaction likely is the yeller is the victim and the person running away is the robber. But can you be sure of that? Maybe the yeller is an accomplice or the scumbag herself trying to distract you… maybe that person running away was just an innocent bystander trying to get the hell out of there. Should you get involved, especially if you don’t know the whole story? should you not judge too quickly?

I’m not sure what the answers are here, in terms of giving out a specific “do this” recipe. If you do need a guideline, think about “what maximizes beer and TV time“. The only thing I can say is you must think about these things ahead of time. When the time comes is not a time to make a decision, especially because your chance of making a wrong decision is high. Figure out your boundaries ahead of time, make your mistakes while it’s safe. Then if the situation ever does present itself, you better your chances of success. Everyone’s lines are drawn in different places, just be sure you know where yours are drawn.