[Colts And Orioles]

o


There has been some discussion as to whether or not a man should hit a woman if she hits him first, and he is defending himself. If you all would bear with me, I would like to share my own personal story on the matter.

First of all, I would like to say that I believe that each and every case is different, and therefore that what happened with me should not necessarily be taken as a presumption that every other circumstance of domestic violence should be judged accordingly.

In 1991, I was 25 and my girlfriend was 19. We were arguing vehemently. She came toward me with her arm raised, as though she were going to smack me. I was very angry because of whatever it was that we were arguing about, and I kicked my foot towards her. My foot hit her in the stomach, and she groaned, turned around, and fell to the floor. It was one of the worst feelings that I ever had, and to this day I feel great remorse about it. I wasn't worried about her calling the police on me, because I knew that she wouldn't ...... but my feelings of guilt and remorse about what I did was as bad as the anxiety over being worried about getting arrested.


Like I said, just because that was my experience does not necessarily mean that each and every other case of a man hitting a woman after she hit him first should be judged accordingly ...... obviously it's different if she is coming at you with a stake-knife or a hammer, but anything short of something like that, I would highly recommend that you refrain from striking her so as to avoid the guilt and remorse that I still feel about this incident 33 years after the fact.

o