Bare minimum
There are, in any discipline, any number of skill levels. But to do anything in any of them, there are a bare minimum of skills you must have.
Most of these could be argued, and generally are. Coming from the outside and looking into each situation, however, there are a few things that can easily be said to be bare minimums in any discipline.
Beginning with a simple one. Car ownership, from a maintenance standpoint. Anyone who can say “Leftie loosie, righty tightie”should be able to follow the instructions in their owners manual to lift up their car, change a tire, and put the car back on the road again. Likewise, anyone ought to be able to locate the places where the fluids are checked, and check the fluids, and, again, following the instructions in the manual, acquire the proper fluids and top the fluids off- oil, trans fluid, coolant, windshield washer fluid, and brake/clutch fluid. You don’t even have to get dirty to do these things. Knowing how to do these bare minimum things can make your vehicle last a good deal longer than it would if you can’t or don’t do these things, because by the time the warning light goes on on the dashboard, it’s usually already too late.\
Home ownership is a big one, and for many if not most people, it’s most daunting. But there are things you need to know, and they are not hard. You should know where to shut off the water, gas, and electricity; where the circuit breaker/fuse box is, and what each circuit breaker does.
If you use a gas mower to mow your lawn, the same thing goes for it as for your car, though it’s usually a good deal simpler. Check the oil, make sure it’s stowed properly at the end of the season. Modern mowers with plastic gas tanks want to be stored empty after having been run dry of gas, older ones with metal tanks get stored full, preferably with Sta-bil in the tank.
Your body is your only nonreplaceable asset. Knowing how to stop bleeding and dress a wound should be something that everyone knows. Knowing when to buy OTC meds and when to see a doctor is a basic skill far too many people get wrong.
Personally I feel everyone should know at least this about firearms: How to pick up and hold a revolver or autoloader and how to make sure they are clear, how to confirm that a shotgun or rifle is loaded. Sure there are some weapons that are like unto lemarchand’s box, but for a very large portion of firearms it’s as simple as break it open or pull the magazine or open the cylinder. I would say this is even more basic than knowing where the loud end is and where the bang switch is, and the ability to even remotely hit what you are aiming at. (Edited to add: Of course the four rules)
If you are a gravedigger or a ditchdigger the basic skills are the same. The same would be true of truck drivers and bus drivers. Plumbers and pipefitters (There is a BIG difference in the occupations)
In self defense there are so many methods that claim to be the best, bare minimum, but none is really the end all and be all, I don’t think. In a conversation with Marc MacYoung some months ago, he said “be Fluffy”, referring to what someone goes through to get an angry cat (Fluffy) to a vet’s appointment. I think this is a clever bit of advice, because just acting like a wild angry cat in a bad mood will go a long way toward deterring someone who is not pretty dedicated to making your day a bad one.
I have lived most of my life trying to have at least the bare minimum in as many different disciplines as I can, and generally learning that bare minimum demystifies things enough that I want to learn more. The less you are afraid of something, the more likely you are to do more of it.
How to pick up and hold a revolver or autoloader and how to make sure they are clear, how to confirm that a shotgun or rifle is loaded. […] I would say this is even more basic than knowing where the loud end is and where the bang switch is, and the ability to even remotely hit what you are aiming at.
More basic that shooting, certainly.
But “knowing which bit makes it go band and where the boom comes out” is … very important in being able to check condition safely.
(“Don’t pick up that revolver by the trigger and point the barrel at your face!”)
Four rules definitely apply
“In self defense there are so many methods that claim to be the best, bare minimum, but none is really the end all and be all, I don’t think.”
Two points about martial arts (without stepping too hard on my “writing for money” efforts); First would be deciding/understanding whether you are teaching/learning a sport, or are you teaching/learning physical combat? Second can be easily summed up as learning to understand the mental/emotional/ethical/legal process that constitutes the context within which you might be able/have to use the martial skills you develop.
To sum up, I argue that there cannot be a “best” school or discipline of martial training simply due to the wildly divergent (when not actually contradictory) conditions you might find yourself in. All too often, spontaneously from your perspective (conditional awareness efforts notwithstanding, you will never see inside anyone else’s mind no matter how alert you keep yourself … until they show you).
I think the best any of us can realistically strive for as martial arts students in the 21st century is to use that training as a physical fitness activity that might lead to some sport activity if we are willing to put in that level of work. That’s how I approach Krav Maga, shooting, strength training, boxing, sword fighting (HEMA generally), not because I expect to use my limited skills “on the street”, but because doing so keeps me upright and breathing on my own better than not doing so does.
Dear Og
Thank you for this musing on skills. It got me to thinking about a lifetime of learning, Started with watching my gramps fix old Brit and French cars in his repair shop (factory trained master mechanic 1906), my dad assembling electronics, ham radio, leading to me dismantling and re-assembling bicycles, then mopeds, then cars, houses, electronics, appliances, optics, it never ends, at 66 I am still learning (now welding) as I wanted a utility trailer and was not happy with quality for value at local stores. My shop is cluttered and in constant use. Stop by SW Michigan some time, surely there are tales to trade and beers to consume.
Thanks. 4 rules are the base, where one goes from there is up to them.
One small point about car maintenance, changing a tire: knowing what to do and having the strength to do it are two different things.
If I can get my 96 lb aunt to change a tire on her SUV at age 88, I can get anyone to do so. There is no real strength required, just smarts.
True, but from what I see around me, not even to that higher skill level. When I was in Basic Training in the 80s, we had classes, literaly sit in a chair in a classroom while the D/S talked, telling us how to use nail trimmers, bar soap, and toothbrushes. I thought they were just demeaning us in that tear down build up mode they had, but no. Even in the blue collar area I came from, we had that mastered by age 8. Got out of my realm and was amazed at the general lack of pure basics, and it has worsened since. Computers make wiggly red lines under spelling errors, and people yet have gotten more atrocious with spelling and grammar. Can’t make change from a $3.84 bill when I hand over a $5 if the computer’s off. Can’t boil water and put a baggie of broccoli and cheese in it, let alone make it from scratch in a pot. Can’t do cursive. Can’t show up at school without being declared to have an acronym type syndrome and be medicated for it, when they just need some decent schoolyard time and classes with windows instead of the pillbox buildings they put them in now. Even the indoor only house cat with a walnut sized brain has to sit in the window and gaze out from time to time for its well being. This is 101 stuff, tire changing and first aid are 201 level in this age. God help ’em if the lights ever went off.
MTS, I wish I could find something to disagree with in what you say.