(GRAPHIC) Do you think there was any way for this woman to protect herself and prevent this assault? If she practiced some Active Self Protection, there was probably a chance she could have prevented this assault.

Details from the news here: get-asp.com/hhwc

How do I protect myself from random attacks?

1. Nothing can prevent every attack known to man, which is why spiritual fitness is important. Not only does spiritual fitness give us the courage to defend ourselves from whatever harm comes our way, but it means that we have made our peace with God if a sneak attack like this takes us without warning. The dual nature of spiritual fitness is a really important part of covering your ASP!

2. There is an overlap between situational awareness and threat assessment. I know a lot of people who get fatigued trying to know where everyone in the room is all the time. That kind of situational awareness is bordering on paranoia! Instead, use awareness to make quick threat assessments of the people you see. Hands and face are my two quick items to scan. Most people are harmless, and if their face is not giving signs of being a threat and their hands aren’t either, I feel comfortable forgetting them. I am a people watcher, so I don’t mind being in a larger location and just seeing who is around. But what I am looking for isn’t to acknowledge every person around, but to scan briefly and intermittently for anyone out of place or focusing on me. That’s what threat assessment adds to situational awareness.

3. Evil exists in this world, and it can happen to you. You must be aware that there are people in this world who are Drunk, Drugged, or Deranged who can do you harm. That evil doesn’t care if you’re the best person around. This woman wasn’t targeted for anything about her, but just because a deranged man blew her up by sheer chance.

4. You must be the primary agent in your own rescue, as Dave Spaulding is fond of saying. The bystanders in this video weren’t bad people, there was just no way that they could have intervened in time. Likewise, you must be ready to protect yourself because in the moment, no one else possibly can.

5. The human body is designed to take an incredible amount of damage and still function. The video in the link seems to say that she is recovering well. That is mind boggling for sure, but we see it all the time. Humans can take a ridiculous amount of injury and still live.

6. There is certainly a significant bit to say here about mental illness. The original story has an interview with the attacker’s brother where he says that his brother was off his medicine, and it was a contributing factor. I thank God for SSRIs and other medication that helps people with mental illness, because I have people dear to me in my home that suffer from mental illness and it helps tremendously. But when people don’t take their medicine, it can leave them unstable and even in rare cases like this, dangerous. So if your family member suffers from mental illness, make sure they take their meds!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.