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To capture the gazelle, the cheetah must catch it before it can make its sharp turn. Since the cheetah is has not learned to anticipate the gazelle’s turns, many gazelles escape. Usually only the very young, very old, or infirm gazelles are caught.

Most martial arts styles are similar to either the cheetah or the gazelle; they either concentrate on the attack or on the escape. Some styles concentrate on the power and speed needed to overcome an opponent, such as Taekwondo does, while other styles concentrate on cunning and agility to avoid an opponent, such as Aikido does. Similar to the cheetah and the gazelle, both of these methods, power or avoidance, have their shortcomings. If the power stylist cannot overcome an avoidance opponent quickly, he or she becomes frustrated and tired and not only cannot defeat the opponent, he or she may then become the prey. If the avoidance stylist cannot avoid the power opponent, he or she has little ability to resist the power of the attack and is quickly defeated.

Which style, power or avoidance, is best suited for a person to adopt and study depends upon several factors, body type and personality being major factors. A stocky, powerful boisterous person is not suited for graceful avoidance movements, and a thin, relatively weak quiet person is not suited for forceful, powerful movements.

These shortcomings may be overcome or neutralized by each style, power or avoidance, by adopting some of the characteristics of the other, such as:

• Avoidance stylists should practice using powerful attacks.

• Power stylists should practice anticipating the movements of avoidance opponents so they may lead them and strike where the opponents will be, not where they are.

Just as with the cheetah and the gazelle, each type of martial art, power or avoidance, has its good points that allow it to be victorious at times. However, to be consistently victorious, a fighting style must adopt some of the characteristics of the competition. This does not mean the cheetah must change its spots or the gazelle must lose its horns, it just means each should adopt some of the tactics of the other.

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