Everyday Carry

My knifeAt my Weight Watchers meeting (yes, like Charles Barkley I do Weight Watchers, so STFU) somebody needed to open a bag of frozen raspberries. She was aghast when I whipped out my knife.

More and more, pocket knives have come to be viewed as weapons instead of tools. Just look at the hysteria over knives in schools. Several years ago, a student who was an Eagle Scout and National Guardsman was suspended for having a small jackknife — in his car out in the parking lot. That’s just nuts.

I’ve had people say to me, “Why do you have a knife?” My answer? “Why don’t you have a knife?”

Pocket knives are standard equipment, and not just for guys. Hell, if I walked around with a pocketbook, I could carry a much bigger knife. And no, just because I go to Weight Watchers I don’t have a manbag. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

11 thoughts on “Everyday Carry

  1. I have been carrying a Swiss Army Knife for nearly 20 years. I have used every single tool on it and may yet buy a fancier one.

  2. MANBAG!

    Hey, when did women get the monopoly on carrying bags? Sure, we can pull off a backpack without being ridiculed, but a small satchel? Forget about it. Unfair…

  3. Carried a jackknife almost every day since I was a kid in 4th or 5th grade, maybe earlier. Without it I feel naked.

    Remember giving one of my daughters a Swiss Army knife, and then having to find a black leather pouch for it. Even though it wasn’t “issue”, she could wear it on her belt if it matched the other uniform issue items.

    1. It’s shameful that the same knife would get you suspended from school today. It used to be that a nice pocket knife was a wonderful gift to give a young person — something that they would treasure. Today? You might as well send them to school with a loaded gun.

      I’m not saying that some kids don’t occasionally do dumb things with knives, or that they are never used violently, but in the vast majority of cases they are not.

  4. One of the perks of being the eldest child: I got first crack at my dad’s pocket knives and took the best one!

  5. My kids (boys 12 + 16) have Swiss Army knives. They got them for Christmas a couple of years ago. And I carry the knife my that was forever in my dad’s pocket jangling around with coins, keys and nail clippers.

  6. I’ve gotten in trouble for carrying a knife….a pen knife with a 1 inch blade that hangs forgotten from the end of my pocket watch chain.

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