Imagine, if you will...

A woman walking across a dark parking lot late at night. The lot, apparently occupied only by the vehicles parked there and the occasional cat hunting for an evening snack.

Then, as if from out of nowhere, she feels the hard, meaty arm slam into her throat from the front. While her mind races to determine exactly what's happening, she becomes more and more aware that she is not in control - her world has just changed forever.

The woman feels her muscles contract and, though she tries to move, is aware that much of her own body won't respond to her brain's commands. As the adrenaline and other chemicals flood her blood stream in natural response to danger, she is overcome by a multitude of feelings and sensations that she has, quite literally, never experienced before.

As the initial shock response and wave of panic begins to ebb, she finds herself becoming aware of the sensation of her assailant's body behind her and the fact that his arm is coming from over her right shoulder. She can now hear his hot, rasping breath in her ear and perhaps the fact that he is saying something to her; though she's not quite sure what it is.

Since she's taken a few self-defense classes, she remembers learning how to get out of this type of attack and reaches up to grab and pull his arm away from her neck. What she finds though, is that she cannot even begin to budge it in the least.

"Wait a minute," she thinks in a moment of clarity, "this isn't right."

"This isn't right!"

"It always worked in class." "This guy's holding me too tight!" "No one ever holds THIS TIGHT!"

She feels the next wave of panic start to grip her. Not because she is being attacked but...

...because she realizes that her defense doesn't work.

"Why?" "What's going on?!"

"It's supposed to work!" "He said it would wo...."

As the darkness of unconsciousness overtakes her, she is left with the feeling of a warm blanket that is being pulled over someone who will sleep for a long while.

************************************************

The preceding story, believe it or not, happens several times every single day in our country and around the world. To be certain, the details are different. Perhaps the victim...

...is a man - not a woman...

...never actually trained with anyone and just had their own assumptions...

...was attacked differently, but...

...the results are always the same.

Or, are they?