Recently by Todd Sepulveda: The Zombie Diet Food Plan (InFourEasySteps)
Every man should own a knife. And every man should receive his first knife when he is a young boy. At this moment, I can hear every man saying, “darn right!” I can also hear every woman screaming?!? Women (not every woman) tend to freak out over knives (story below). But knives are simply tools. TOOLS! Let me say that again, a knife is a TOOL!
Side story – A few weeks back I pulled out my Boker to open up a box that was taped up. The four women teachers around me freaked out and all backed up like I was about to stab them in the neck or something. After pressing them, 3 of the 4 admitted that their husbands carry a knife too. Their response is just typical of how we have vilified TOOLS. TOOLS PEOPLE! IMPORTANT TOOLS!
The thing to remember is that with everything (and I mean everything), boys need to be taught about knives and how to use them appropriately. But handing a kid a knife also provides a parent with the opportunity to teach responsibility, respect and sets them on the road for what they are hardwired for, being a man!
Responsibility – Boys needs to learn responsibility. If not, they won’t know the value of things. Boys could choose to be irresponsible. When they are irresponsible, it should be viewed as a teachable moment. For instance, my son has a knife that he purchased at a gun show. He really likes it. But one time he left it just laying around – he didn’t value it enough to put it in its place, he was irresponsible. I conveniently picked it up and put it in “my” place. Later, when he realized he couldn’t find it, he came to me to let me know. I used that time to teach how important it is to be responsible. If he didn’t know where his knife was, he wouldn’t have it when he needed it. It is up to the parents to show and express value in important items and teach responsibility.
Respect – Who doesn’t think that kids nowadays couldn’t use some lessons in respect? Could it be that kids aren’t respectful because parents haven’t taught them to be respectful? But boys don’t need to learn only how to be respectful to others, they need to learn how to respect “stuff.”
How does one teach respect? Touching a hot grill will teach you a little respect when dad’s bbq’ing. But that is learning the hard way. Kids need to respect and trust their parents in order to respect what their parents say, that is a whole different post. But hopefully it suffices to say, respect rises with a good relationship. You can’t have one without the other.
Manhood – Men are hardwired to kill their food and bring it home to their families. In the past 30 plus years, there seems to have been a huge effort to wussify boys (recall the story above when I pulled out my Boker). Boys are going to gravitate to boy things, be rough, play cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians and get muddy. Let boys be boys!
I’m glad that I can be there at school to run interferences with young elementary boys when they draw a picture of a gun fight or make a paper gun. Yes, there needs to be wisdom, but come on! That young deaf boy, who recently was told that he couldn’t sign his name because he had to sign a letter that looked like a gun was not wisdom! Those educators are idiots! It wouldn’t have happened if I was there!
Having a knife won’t make a boy a man, but it does signify what every man was hardwired to do.
What do I carry – Because I work in an elementary school, I carry a Boker Plus Urban Survival Knife. This is not a bushcraft knife or one that you would use to cut wood for whatever reason. This is purely a self-defense weapon. It works for me in this setting because the top looks like a pen cap. It also comes with another cap that will break glass if you want that option. It has studs to flip it open, but it does take practice; I’ve become pretty quick with it. The end also has sort of a hook that can be pressed into someone when pressure is placed with the thumb.
You can purchase the Boker Plus Urban Survival Knife on Amazon. Take the negative reviews with a grain of salt. Again, this isn’t a bushcraft knife.
Side Note – I recently linked to an article by Sigma 3 Survival about knife fighting practice on my other website – Prepper Website.
When I’m not at school/work, I carry a Kershaw Shallot.
Reprinted with permission from Ed That Matters.
