(Book: Sven Nordkvist: Pettson och Findus)The current move towards an even more strict offensive weapon act in Germany makes me want to reflect upon the topic.
It is, of course, easy to think along the lines of critics like Lemmy Kilmister.
And maybe he was right, and maybe he was not. But this is not my topic here.I have worked with politicians for twelve years and I retched my guts out every single day before going to work. For several reasons. Some of it my own fault, but also because of, let us call it ...their moral flexibility, to stay polite.
But it is the easy way. We need to reflect ourselves.
You see a lot of knives on this Blog. Also carving, smithing, culture, and recipes, all of which is facilitated by the use of knives. As stated in my disclaimer, the use of knives as a weapon is not part of what I want to propagate, and if so, only in a cultural or historical context.
In the contrary, since 1998 I have worked with kids in difficult social contexts in order to prevent social violence and violence in general. Often voluntarily, often under dire circumstances, most of the time I was poorer than the parents of the kids on social welfare. Only when I started working with politicians I understood that while officially my work was appreciated, that was an outright lie.
But back to the knife as such. Youth associate a knife with a symbol of status. To admit, well, that is the case with a lot of us knife nuts. Few of us older folks, however, actually associate status with violence. Or knives at that.
When we grew up, there was one or the other old conker or lady showing us what to do with a pocket knife. And what not to do. I would spend hours on end helping my grandmother preparing veggies from our garden, fruit from the orchard and mushrooms from the woods while listening to her stories of Yore. My father, grandfather and granduncle taught me how to whittle and carve and show me how to use a knife and a shiteload of other tools. They showed me how to use a scythe, too. I really loved scything, but the downside was that I had to help mowing the fields. And there was neither discussion nor passive aggression about that. From neither side. You just did it. You had to take responsibility. And if you did something wrong, that wasn't the end of the world, but you had to stand up for it.
Of course I also had what many kids had: A wrong idea of knives because of the Rambo movies, which were all the rage in those days. But since we had to use our knives for actual work, that didn't last too long.
When my father bought me a new pocket knife, always some kind of pocket or other utility knife, it always was a right treat for me. I have carried a pocket knife since I was four.
I never, ever used a knife for violence. I never drew a knife in anger. It always was a tool for me, associated with good food and carving and making good-natured things.
Emil of Lönneberga, Ronja Rövardottir, Pettson and Findus, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Goethe and similar idols have made my image of using a knife far more and impressed me far more deeply than the Rambo movies ever did, even if those obviously had an impact on me, too.
When I tried to teach difficult kids to take responsibility, I used carving to excellent effect and with great success. Still have the notes of excellence rotting away in some box in the attic.
I was fired, not in spite, but because of it.
Leading authorities of law enforcement criticize the push towards even greater restrictions (https://www.bdk.de/der-bdk/was-wir-tun/aktuelles/brauchen-wir-ein-schaerferes-waffengesetz), because it will most possibly not show the desired effects. It will remove the institutional assumption of innocence by decree. The authorities in question also criticize the lack of funds and law enforcement personnel, and the lack of funding for social welfare, integration and education and hint of the Offensive Weapon act in Germany first being institutional in the Third Reich. Demanding even stronger restrictions has some grave implications. Let us hope for the best. Let us hope that it is not that bad.
As a matter of fact, however, one would be naive not to acknowledge that knives are used for bad things. Knives are also used as weapons. And truth be told, as kids we were fascinated by the Rambo movies because of that aspect. The lone, but PTSD-sick special forces guy taking out the bad guys and putting an injustice more or less right simply appealed to us. We learned soon that this was not necessarily a good thing, even though we used to make fun of German Army forces on manoeuver in our forests, because, well, we were eleven, and, apart from one sniper, we were better than the grown- ups (and yes, we had permission by the unit and our parents). Additionally, my father was a deputy law enforcement officer. I grew up around weapons and law enforcement and military units, hunters and fishers. And we learned that it wasn't fun and games, but a grave responsibility. I actively prevented several hundred crimes, two to five felonies, since I was six years old. It wasn't anything to brag about, and my Dad was sometimes a tad too daft and dangerous. But I am not naive. People do crimes. People also use knives as a weapon. Period.
Now the bushcraft and survival community is a great one, but there are also a lot of people, mostly men, who have or claim a special forces background. If that is so, every serving person had my utmost respect. I in no way do claim such a background.
But there are also the others. Overweight incels claiming to be tough guys, preppers hoarding weapons and little gamer shitheads advocating violence in a crisis situation. Seven vs Wild, Alone, Naked and Afraid, they are all entertainment formats which are perfectly okay in their own right, but in times of permanent crisis they are also projecting a false image. It is always "one tough guy against nature and all odds".
Knives are not weapons. This is what we need to advocate, not only for our own privileges of freedom. Freedom isn't free. We need to fight for it. Sometimes that means to take a firm stand, maybe against one's own peers. But not as one tough guy against all odds, but with friendliness, manners, kindness and cooperation. We need to save a culture and preserve a cultural heritage of the old conker giving his (or her) knowledge to the young ones. Regardless of the outcome of the political shitshow going on. We need to take a democratic, but firm stand against the proposters and ursurpers of our time.
Actually, doing this can be fun. Why always carve tent pegs or war clubs or traps? I mean they have their time and own right and can be fun projects. Never made myself a war club, but want to try out for certain, because it can make you understand a culture. But you are neither allowed to set traps in Germany, as there is no such thing as legal wildcamping in Germany, and if you make a real Native warclub, you would be asked wherefore you need it, and if you are not an experimental archaeologist, you would be hard-pressed to find an answer. Fact is, it is good to be still able to do such a thing, but fact is also, you normally do not need them. If you don't need them, you can also carve a funny little gnome, a flower or a toy. And there are a lot of more utilitarian but no less fun projects. Shuttles, spindles, spoons, kitchen ware, you name it. Knives can be awesome tools. But I find that my survival knives are sitting in drawers and boxes these days more often than not, because my Vics, Grampa knives and Moras and little bushcraft knives simply do a far better job carving and making things. I found that out by using the shite outta them. I learned a lot by doing this. That is not to say that big knives do not have their time and place. If you can use your Bowie for delicate carving tasks, all good and cudos to you. And there is also a time and place for the "one-tool-option"line of thought, and first and foremostly, if you are not some criminal, you should not be made one by law. On the other hand, there are a lot of people completely freaking out if you even take out a Swiss Army knife in public. That is obviously an unfortunately really common mental illness. There is even a diagnosis, named aichmophobia, for it. And of course, kindness should not go as far as you becoming as mentally ill as the ones you want to help with that kindness. But I do not want to make people uncomfortable, especially if they are mentally ill. Not just because of them, but because they tend to do silly things if you rouse them. A SAK or Grampa knife is not that threatening to them, and everyone finds hearts, toys and flowers cute. So I carved a lot of them and left them at the trailside for others to find, and, hopefully, enjoy. Most of them are no longer capable of deducing that they have been carved, but some of them will, and hopefully connect carving with creating things they enjoy. Carving a delicate project really sucks with a Cold Steel SRK, and yes, I tried.
Use your shit. 😉
The rest will come to pass.
Oh, and do not forget to have fun.
Take care!
