Specialization is for insects...

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
— Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

   Wandering my mind about the carrying of a pocket knife, folding lock blade, multi-tool, or a sheath knife - is the thought of Community, everyone has to contribute and draw from the common wealth... ooo... common wealth, normally means the rich get richer doesn't it?

    One problem with movies, television and novels is the main character is the one that carries the day, slays the monster and make happily ever after. And he always gets the girl. Who is always hot, drop dead gorgeous, with long legs up to her... you get the idea. None of our stories, myths, and legends are real folks - real folks have warts, blemishes, scars and ideas that should never see the light of day.

   But, in my opinion, the current culture is constantly wanting experts to take out the garbage - and in some states they had best be union members, and in other states they belong to the mob. But everyone can take out the garbage - really, it was once thought of as a chore for a child.  Look deeper, and you will see the creep of control everywhere, you have to get permission, a license and certification to do ...... (fill in the blank). I know that women give birth everywhere when it is time, but I was born in a hospital - a situational improvement over my father's birth at home. We were both near our mothers.

   When a community has a problem, they have to find their solution and fix it. And disarming the community does decrease the possibility of death by firearms, it does not make everyone nice, peaceful and a saint. If the problem is that anger leads to rage and murder - the community has to quell the anger.

    In the American Revolution we have important leaders, whole Histories are written about their greatness, goodness and shared with the community. But you do realize that if you take all the great men - and their ideas and do not have the community provide the food, shelter, intelligence, manpower, healing and support. The whole war would have been less bloody and unresolved... just the elite couldn't have done it without Yankee Doodle, the thousands of Yankee Doodles that showed up to become the Continental Line, or the courier service, or the guard at the post.

   In one of my recent readings they talked about the ten percent that fight in combat, boldly and bravely, and die... then the next boldest, brave and effective fighter steps up and continues, and the next and the next.... until the battle is won or there just aren't anymore. It struck me as a kind of truth.

   America is the nation of individuals, working for themselves and family and friends, in any way they can, to accomplish their best. The phrase 'We the People' means something. It can be the strength of a nation, a town, a business, a farm, a school, a church... specialization is for insects. Humans don't do well in lock step, frozen in the status quo...

  Change is important for adaptation to the current challenge, are we flexible enough? You should have the tools, or you should invent them.