Seniors are Cane-Fu Fighting

It’s no secret that aging makes us, and especially seniors more vulnerable. But, I smiled to hear about a new trend that’s sure to make aggressors who take on the elderly as targets back off, at least a little.

It’s called “Cane-Fu” and apparently it’s catching on across the country, poking at the theory that vulnerability equals victory for criminals who figure disabled and frail means weak and easy. No more.

Grandmas and Grandpas across the country are signing up for this self-defense technique. It seems it’s based on the Korean martial art of Hapkido, which has incorporated canes in its weapons training since its inception following WWII.

Somehow, I  can just picture my dad (who hated carrying his cane and ALWAYS “forgot” it), charged with new energy if we had told him “Cane-Fug” would have restored his golf backswing.  Or that there were classes in the senior community center where his buddies would be wielding using their canes like baseball bats and that it was the newest exercise. He could skip water aerobics with my mom and brandish his cane.

Some days life on the caregiving front can bring big smiles. One thing for sure. It never gets boring.

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—Mary Beth Sammons