I’ve had a very odd and probably unhealthy affection for knives lately. It’s something that I haven’t experienced in quite a while and I don’t really know how to explain it.

I have always been visually attracted to clean lines and, like a myna bird, shiny things. Knives fit into this category, obviously. There has to be an additional reason, though. I’ve been wondering why.

I enjoy the outdoors. I don’t get out as much as I could, though… or as much as I want. And if you are going to be in the outdoors camping or whatnot, a knife can be the difference between life and death if things don’t go as planned. Having something at your side to protect yourself against the unforeseen. Maybe it’s just preparedness that is attractive, I don’t know.

Really, though… deep down, I think it’s something else.

I went to a gun range for my birthday last year. I ended up spending a good chunk of change to fire a 9mm pistol for the afternoon… and it was worth every penny.

I haven’t read up on it or researched why but shooting a gun gives you a feeling of power. Maybe it has something to do with the noise and the danger. After all, guns were created to take life… and maybe it’s the acknowledgement of this power that gives people a thrill.

Like guns, knives have much the same ability. Also, when you consider how long man has been “evolved” for, in comparison, firearms are new to the scene. Knives, daggers and swords have been around much longer. Man has spent hundreds of years using blades to kill each other, looking his enemy in the eye as he kills him.

I have no desire to take life. Yet there is that same appeal with a knife. To cut. To maim. To destroy. Logical? Not remotely. Human? Definitely.