It is all good.
Couple of things come to mind, as I guess they do to everyone the more years they continue to live and age.
--Decade they were born.
I was born in Mid-Fifties in the Southern US. Everyone is a
product of their raising . Language, Dialect of Language, Economics, Climate, Culture, Adults, Peers, Education, Industry...Adages.
Adages...they stick as that is what one actually grew up "doing" and "being".
A Tool is never any better than user of said tool.
I get a bit tickled when some ask on Fora -"What Gun for Snakes" and the truth is more snakes have probably been killed by a Garden Hoe than any other tool down here in the South.
Folks back then did not do "Joe's Hardware" Hoe vs "Martha's Hardware Store" Hoe either.
--Tools for Task
Strategy &
Tactics Context of these two words have "changed" over the years.
Today they are most often used as Marketing Catch Words or Buzzwords.
Like those obnoxious catchy jingles Politicians use so voters will remember them...standing there to vote, and get to a certain office to vote for and depending if the jingle was cute, or obnoxious - vote accordingly.
Used to be...
Strategy - A plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal.
Tactics - Method of which a strategy was carried out to accomplish said goal.
Growing up, we did not have Central Heat and Air. It get hot and humid here in the South. We didn't even use heat index - we just knew it was hotter than the day before even though the thermometer said it was the same temperature.
Emerson fan into the window sill, raise a few window and draw moving air through the house.
Well to do folks had a Attic fan.
Big deal when Water Coolers came out...
Glory be when Air Conditioners came out and these went into window sills.
Knives.
Knives were tools. Farmers, Ranchers, Electricians, Fixing supper, Cook in Diner, kids playing mumbley peg.
I do not recall seeing a locking knife until I was older. Knives were for cutting, and depending on what was being cut - determined what knife was used.
Learning to use a pocket-knife / slip-joint proper - matter of common sense and safety.
Mentors said
never learn on a crutch , lose the crutch you will fall down.
Folks are coming up and not being raised right, get these newfangled knives and getting hurt. They do not know the proper way to use and handle a knife and are breaking a huge rule "we" learned early in my day :
Never trust a safety device
Four Rules of Gun Safety was taught early ...
Same principle applies to a lot of life.
Anything can and will fail.
Early on, with these new locking knives, and folks using them proper - locks failed.
No injuries - simple because the folks using them KNEW how to use a knife.
Now we got a knife blade just going back and forth and not good for anything...
Go back in history with Peasant knives, folks doing the real work, these did not have but one blade and if not a fixed blade - it folded without a lock.
Our friends in the UK - by law - are restricted to a non-locking knife with a blade no more than 3".
I hate the politics behind this - still our Friends in the UK and elsewhere, have a long history of getting "work" done with such a knife.
It was the Elite - not doing any real work, that had fancy handles and more than one blade to show off status and power.
Humm...funny how the more things change, the more they remain the same.
---
Back when ...
Everyone carried a pocket knife [slip-joint] girls, boys, men and women. One was not dressed proper without some kind of knife on person.
We took knives to school and used them to sharpen pencils - sometimes that had cranked sharpener - was just that stubborn.
Ladies cut loose threads, cut, peeled fruit...
Men, cut rope, feed sacks, needed to punch leather and fix something on horse tack - miles from the house/ barn.
Pocket Knife and Fixed Knives - what we used.
Old Hickory Butcher knives - Hog killing time, or getting into a Watermelon - though if the truth be known , melon tastes better when you bust them open on a rock, picnic table or fence post or...
That big old knife was not the best tool for cutting a loose a thread, cutting off excess braided fishing line after tying on a hook, or whittling to make tinder to make a fire.
Funny thing was - smaller knives "cut" and being thinner "sliced". Even back then a hardware store pocket knife, with carbon steel blades and white handles that were supposed to look like Mother of Pearl - did things bigger knives could not.
Not a matter of getting a knife out fast - folks thought ahead, had a method of going about doing things - and carrying it out.
One handed is not a new thing, besides fixed blades , including small "whittlling" or "carving knives"...
Carton Cutters - replaceable single edge razor blades - like the grocer uses/ used to open boxes - were right handy for one handed operation- still are.
I still use one today. Flat, retracts, and if I remove the blade and insert into "scraper" feature at the base ( which acts like a stop), I can remove stickers/ decals off glass, and - dead bugs off a windshield .
Finish this chore, put blade back as a carton cutter - and back to cutting boxes, string, whatever.
I loan to someone - don't care if they break it, lose it - often times give them one for them to have...
Last one given was to someone cutting heater hose for a vehicle. We got the hose, cut to length, and did not have to take a chance on his SAK , or my Trapper having to hit metal, (nicking blade) or as I have done, leaving under the hood , on a fender, roof top, ...or dropping it and losing it.
Mine were free - hardware store gets $1.89 best recall for these.
Break a razor, use the other end of razor - one gets two "cutting edges" off one blade. Easy to replace blade and not expensive.
Flat, no pocket clips, nothing to convey to anyone ' That guy is tactical - maybe he carries a gun concealed and I will hold him up with buddies to take his CCW".
What guns? What knives?
Reminds me of the old bull and the young bull. Young bull wants to run down and get
a cow..
Old bull suggests walking down and getting
all the cows...
Marketing is a powerful force, especially with more Media Input resources we have gained over the years.
Another old truism comes to mind:
Ninety percent of fishing lures are made to attract fisher-persons - not fish.
Sorry for going long, then again not. Got a email from a single mom, she wanted to share how her son is doing.
Not long ago this young man got his very own pocket-knife. Now he has Grandpa's old ones...and he proved himself responsible with a Old Timer Grandpa dulled the blades on so he could learn "proper" use and care.
He did not want this knife sharpened - Grandpa has since passed on.
"Mom - I am big enough for my first knife of my very own"
I was invited by this young man to accompany him at the Farm/Feed store.
He knew what he wanted, he knew questions to ask. Sales clerk understood this rite of passage, and was most patient and helpful.
Other sales clerks, other customers with swelled up chests and grins...
Young man stepped onto that wooden block of wood, looked into the Case knife display and chose his first knife.
He gave the sales clerk a coin besides the money for buying it too.
Everyone wanted to see HIS new knife, and they shared what was in their pockets with him.
I was honored to be invited and to be a part of this rite of passage.
May some things never change...
Steve
