Whatever your views of personal security and freedom, it’s
worth considering that other people may not share your concerns, plans and
opinions. I recently attended a meeting at a local company where we all had to
fill in a paper ballot for a vote. The ballot slip was on the bottom of a piece
of photocopy paper and had to be filled in and then torn off the sheet and
handed in. I folded my piece of paper and then used my Spyderco folding knife
with 3 ¼ inch serrated blade to neatly separate the ballot slip from the sheet.
I got a few general comments from other people in the room
questioning if the knife was legal; what a big and dangerous blade it had; asking
why I carry a knife and whether it was permitted on company premises. I defused
the situation by making a joke out of it and saying that I carry a folder because
carrying scissors would be silly.
However, here’s the more serious problem: Some people regard
objects that may be used in a dangerous manner as always
dangerous, regardless of the skill, intelligence, morality and maturity of the
person in charge of that object. As a society, we are losing our ability to
judge individual situations and behavior on their merits. Instead, we dumb down
everything to the lowest common denominator. There is a saying that I believe originated in
the old East Germany back when it was a part of the Soviet Union: “everything
which is not allowed (by the government) is forbidden."
There is an underlying sentiment that everything is
forbidden unless it is specifically allowed. If this is the way we want our
society to function, then it should be made clear who has the authority to
make good decisions and why they are so much better at making good and appropriate
decisions than the individual citizen.
I choose to carry a knife because it’s a valuable tool that
I use in a responsible, lawful and appropriate way. I resent having to explain
that to my colleagues who don’t understand the way that a free and open society
operates.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Founding father Benjamin
Franklin from his Memoirs of the life and
writings of Benjamin Franklin
