Little was said at the time, but we recall a decent reporter losing a pocket knife at a trial he attended because no “weapons” were allowed in the court. The knife was never to be seen again.
Coming from a rural community where a pocket knife or pen knife or, out our way, a jack knife, is common, we wonder how many knives are still tucked in a front pocket. On the farm they are handy way to cut twine off straw and hay bales. This past weekend, we used a similar trusty knife to carve up and sort the harvest from the garden.
There was a point in time that kids would reach an age where they could have their very own jack knife. It was a big event, right up there with being able to stay up a little later at night and watch television while younger siblings were sent to bed.
That seemed to go hand in hand with the Cubs and Scouts age range, where camping trips necessitated getting a tool of the trade. Safety, of course, was taught, including how to sharpen and properly open a knife and how to use one. We recall days before automatic locking blades were in vogue and the user had to be pretty careful not to have the blade collapse on unsuspecting fingers while whittling or sawing through heavy rope whose knots were too fierce to collapse.
On one of many outings with fellow Cubs, many were envious the time the mother of all knives was pulled from a knapsack. Most of us had only seen it in the Scout catalogue. It was a multi-faceted tool equipped with a fold out spoon, knife, fork, scissors and a blade that resembled a small saw. To top it off, its metal casing was adorned with what looked like a deer antler cover. It was beautiful.
As the chow was dished out and the rest of us used some of mom’s poorer dishware, the Scout with the super duper knife simply pulled on the spoon blade and began using it to scoop up brown beans and whatever else was on the menu. When he needed a fork, he pulled on that blade. It was bigger than life – what a lucky guy.
We suspect the young lad recently making headlines in the United States felt as proud of his super duper, all-in-one Cub knife. A grade 1 student in Delaware, according to Fox News, took his knife to school to use while having lunch and was handed a 45-day suspension. School officials have since backed down on enforcing their zero tolerance policy there that left them no option other than to send the boy to an alternative school. Zero tolerance policies generally catch some innocents in the crossfire. All that boy wanted was to have his lunch in style.
As happens here in this country, the few bad actors in our midst have spoiled it for others. Obviously there are safety issues with young people sporting blades of any sort. There is a time and place for everything and certainly what was once deemed a tool for everyday use is just as easily a weapon for those choosing it as such. One cannot discount the notion either that accidents do happen.
Lots of our older friends still carry a trusty jack knife. Judging by their misshapen blades and worn handles we suspect many could be their first knife, earned as a rite of passage all those years ago.
