I noticed a peculiar generational gap this morning.

In a morning meeting with other “executives” of our company I noticed one of our older guys pull out a pocket knife to carve an extra piece of plastic off of his starbucks lid.

#1 I thought …okay, overkill, right?

#2 I thought… I know a lot of older guys that carry pocket knives… but I don’t know anyone under 50 years old that carries one.

#3 I thought… is this (the lack of a pocket knife) another one of those things (like gay marriage) that will be completely accepted without question by future generations, but would seem weird (at best) by past generations?

#4 I thought … Is this an example of the contrast between generations raised in fear of communist nuclear annihilation and the selfish struggle afterwards and generations raised on more hopeful and peaceful visions of the future?  John Wayne vs. Captain Picard?

Was the pocket knife a useful resource, as necessary for daily life as the cell phone is today?  Is the pocket knife the same as a concealed firearm, a tool to be used in distress very rarely but (in the past) thought to be better to have than not?

I’m 28 and I don’t know anyone my age or near it not currently in law enforcement or the military that owns a gun.  Yes, probably some of my high school classmates have them, but none of the classmates I regularly still speak with.  I have some friends in Los Angeles that occasionally go to a shooting range, but they aren’t bringing their own guns.

Contrast that with my father, who I’m sure already had started his own (now quite impressive) arms collection by my age.

Note also that I don’t see this disinterest in gun ownership as something linked to gun control.  My generation smokes less as well, but smoking was never made illegal.  The two are not corollary.  Instead guns have somehow (and pocketknives by association) been deemed an unnecessary protection mechanism.  I think years of “safety” information have instilled a sense of avoiding danger rather than preparing to counter it.  Women are told not to walk down the dark alley instead of walking down there with a pistol in their purse “in case.”

So, what did y’all (guys born before 1960) do with those pocket knives all the time anyway?  I’m hard pressed to find a reason to use one in day to day life.

And yes, I find it completely ironic that all these imbeciles that know having a gun in the house is bad news around small children see nothing wrong with a “cute” pet rottweiler…