Long ago
When I was about 12 yrs old.
I read a Readers Digest "Drama in Real Life" story.
An aircraft had crash landed and caught on fire.
Everyone exited the aircraft safely EXCEPT one passenger with a jammed seat belt.
A crewmember re entered the burning plane to try and free the passenger.
They both died.
Even as a 12 yr old 40+ years ago I thought "Didn't someone have a knife?"
I am VERY rarely without some kind of sharp knife with me.
Strange how a story can stick with you
Most of us will have the good luck to go through life never having to face a life or death situation. But sometimes something happens. My dad and Mr. Van both hammered that into my head when young, and I never forgot it. Mr. Van told us that when you leave the house in the morning, only God above knows what is in store for you in the course of the day. So it behooves you to be ready.
My dad always told me that saying I've used; it does not have to be big, just sharp. As he lived his life with a Case peanut, I took him at his word, eventually.
When my own time came that I needed a knife, it was a life or death situation. The kind of thing that I too had read about in Readers Digest, or the newspaper. When it happened, there was a brief moment of shock, like the mind needed a moment to digest what just happened right in front of you. Then the realization that you have to do something fast, or it will be too late.
One early winter morning, when myself and my duaghter saw a car loose it and roll a couple times, it was stunning. Then you just do. If I had not had a sharp knife right then, I don't like to think about what may have happened. The woman stuck in the overturned NIssan was overweight, and her weight was making it impossable to undo the seatbelt. I pushed with everything I had in my right thumb, but it was no good. I ended up cutting the belt with a Buck 301 stockman.
At that moment, I knew what my dad had told me was true; anything with a small sharp blade would have done. Anything. A Vic classic, an old Christy knife, a Boker 240 pen knife, or even a Case peanut. Something. Anything with an edge.
With all the womans weight on the belt, it cut very easy, and any small penknife size blade would have done it.
Always carry a knife. Any knife, as long as it's sharp.