being against knives?
Recently, we ran into an acquaintance from our local unitarian
universalist church. When asked what we did during the week, the
answer involved my making of knives and my sheathmaker's making of
sheaths.
The acquaintance proceeded to express her dismay at my sheathmaker,
Sierra, that she would make sheaths and "support knives." Our lady in
question here explained that she was "against knives" and didn't think
they should be allowed.
My natural response is to call her an idiotic sheep and make jokes
about using rocks to eat watermelon and such. Seriously, this is
stupid to the point of asininity- I seriously doubt she refuses to use
knives int he kitchen or eat with friends who have knives in their
kitchens.
But... as hard as it is, perhaps another response is warranted. See, I
have met people in the custom knife world who did at one point think
of knives as weapons of criminals exclusively. (yes, this means that
carrying a knife MAKES one into a criminal. Bizarre, but true.) These
people took different routes to wisdom- construction jobs, restaurant
training, even just having someone demonstrate how a really sharp
knife worked in the kitchen. Suddenly, knives are tool sand possibly
important enough as tools to learn about and get Really Good Ones.
I have not, however, met ANYONE who has gone through a real education
on knives- needing them for jobs or to complete tasks, thinking about
them, learning HOW to use them safely- who has come out of the
experiences "against knives" (whatever that means).
So I'm thinking, as much as it will pain me and as hard as it will be
to control my snarkiness, perhaps I should educate and inform and
offer myself as a teacher, instead of just passing off this person as
an idiot not worth speaking to. After all, this person is, in her
current set of beliefs, willing to vote to ban ALL knives EVERYWHERE
and remove my rights and ability to run my shop.
But damn, it's hard- the attitude she is expressing is ludicrous and
offensive enough that I have a REALLY hard time not being angry at her.
In the gun community there is a tendency to respond to people this way- with anger and dismay at *any* disagreement, let alone the extreme of a case like this one. And this response, one of education and understanding, is one that is definitely missing.
universalist church. When asked what we did during the week, the
answer involved my making of knives and my sheathmaker's making of
sheaths.
The acquaintance proceeded to express her dismay at my sheathmaker,
Sierra, that she would make sheaths and "support knives." Our lady in
question here explained that she was "against knives" and didn't think
they should be allowed.
My natural response is to call her an idiotic sheep and make jokes
about using rocks to eat watermelon and such. Seriously, this is
stupid to the point of asininity- I seriously doubt she refuses to use
knives int he kitchen or eat with friends who have knives in their
kitchens.
But... as hard as it is, perhaps another response is warranted. See, I
have met people in the custom knife world who did at one point think
of knives as weapons of criminals exclusively. (yes, this means that
carrying a knife MAKES one into a criminal. Bizarre, but true.) These
people took different routes to wisdom- construction jobs, restaurant
training, even just having someone demonstrate how a really sharp
knife worked in the kitchen. Suddenly, knives are tool sand possibly
important enough as tools to learn about and get Really Good Ones.
I have not, however, met ANYONE who has gone through a real education
on knives- needing them for jobs or to complete tasks, thinking about
them, learning HOW to use them safely- who has come out of the
experiences "against knives" (whatever that means).
So I'm thinking, as much as it will pain me and as hard as it will be
to control my snarkiness, perhaps I should educate and inform and
offer myself as a teacher, instead of just passing off this person as
an idiot not worth speaking to. After all, this person is, in her
current set of beliefs, willing to vote to ban ALL knives EVERYWHERE
and remove my rights and ability to run my shop.
But damn, it's hard- the attitude she is expressing is ludicrous and
offensive enough that I have a REALLY hard time not being angry at her.
In the gun community there is a tendency to respond to people this way- with anger and dismay at *any* disagreement, let alone the extreme of a case like this one. And this response, one of education and understanding, is one that is definitely missing.