There are millions of martial arts practitioners all over the world .  Through the disciplines these arts impose, men, women and children of all ages and abilities are actively involved in learning how to improve their awareness , health, fitness, confidence and their ability to protect themselves.  The popular perception- learned largely from movies and fictional television  dramas- that martial arts mainly concerned with violence and general mayhem, has done much harm by discouraging people from achieving a more in-depth understanding .  Anyone who becomes involved with the martial arts soon learns that the aggressive , brutish perception people have of these disciplines  could not be further form the truth . Inherent in their teaching are the guiding principles of respect, courtesy and self-discipline- in fact, most skilled martial arts practitioners are less likely to initiate or become involved in physical aggression than non-practitioners , perferring  instead to remove themselves from a potentially violent situation. Rather than fighting other people, the martial arts encourage us to fight the enemy within  in an effort to become better people.