Karate Kids

In 1997, when I was adjunct lecturer at a university, I heard that a high school boy was badly beaten up on campus. Apparently he'd become involved in an argument with a classmate, who quickly challenged him to a fight. Unbeknownst to the boy, the challenger was taking karate lessons and promptly demonstrated all he knew on him.

It was clear to me then and to no one else that the karate student was very much at fault. He'd been watching one tournament too many and was itching to show his peers how much he'd learned. Rule Number One in the martial arts, however, is that you are never to practice your skill on an unskilled person. That would be somewhat like using a sword on a man who doesn't have a sword.

The same is true in the practice of magic. I instruct my students to desist from using any type of magic on innocent persons. The payback is tenfold.