My weird experience with a fight this week

    As long time readers (and listeners) know, I teach high school.  Since I've moved to Nashville, I've had to take a job in a less desirable locality.  I now teach in a very rough school.  Don't get me wrong, I don't feel in danger or anything like that, and the school is very clean and well managed.  There are no detentions, only suspensions and expulsions.  They have a saying that I tend to agree with: "We are here for education, if that is not your goal, we'll find someplace else for you to be."  There are frequent fights, and what takes up a large majority of the students time and energy instead of education, is talking about, being in, describing, and planning for fights. 

Kane and Wilder's book.   I'm reading this now

    The worst part is, to use Kane and Wilder's language, that they are all social violence situations.  The only point of any of these fights is to prove that they are willing to fight.  There is nothing gained or lost.  There is no real threat to any of these people other than their face.  I use the word face as in "face value" or "saving face."  There seems to be a fight every day or two, and with a student body of about 800 students, that is quite frequent.  I also understand that when people are in lower socioeconomic situations, honor or face is a very prized possession.  I also understand, that to look weak could invite more situations.  To use the words from Ender's Game, "a fight to prevent a future fight" is acceptable in my eyes.  I don't think that is anywhere near the majority of the fights though.
    Anyway, what happened was two girls, seemingly out of nowhere in my class, burst into the hallway and started getting into a screaming match which was apparently going to erupt into a violent situation.  Being the teacher, I quickly got between the students and was holding back the aggressor. What is interesting, from a martial arts point of view, was both my and her response.  I was holding her back with a single arm across her upper chest, like across her collar bones.  Every time she would advance, I would put pressure to one side, which would twist her slightly, and she couldn't walk the way she wanted to go.  I didn't even realize I was doing it until I thought about it later.  Since I wasn't the focus of the violence, I was also able to remain completely calm and control her this way.  I never once raised my voice or used any real amount of force.  The situation ended because it attracted the attention of about 3 other teachers and the campus police officer who took the girl away.

Adrenaline or Norepinephrine

    Afterwards, about 5 minutes later, I got the adrenaline dump.  My hands were shaky.  I had difficulty signing a pass for a student, and I had a lot of nervous energy.  Luckily, I had a break where I could walk around for about 10 minutes to wear it off.  I don't know why it happens later rather than at the moment for me, but that seems to be the way I function.
    I just wanted to share my experience and talk about how my martial arts training was applied to a "real-life" situation.  I know the violence wasn't directed at me, but I think it counts.  I was able to control a violent situation, and I remained calm and in control.  Anyone have similar stories?