Sticks and Knives
The knife might as well be as essential as the stick itself… and vice versa.
Notes:
I was listening to a podcast about human movement years ago, back when I started researching for my book (wip), and the person who was being interviewed mentioned something along the lines of “We humans have always used sticks. If you notice, in every culture, sticks are used. Kids flow naturally towards sticks and they learn how to integrated it into their daily movement without much effort.” Not the exact words but the idea is there, and I totally agree. As a physical educator and movement observer I have witnessed the natural gravitational pull between sticks and humans; at schools, out in the wild, at the gum, at rehab clinics, and in martial arts schools. I believe that the same happens with knives.
I decided to explore this topic while taking
‘s essay camp as a way to explore writing about topics that were personal; one about my relationship with silence (Click here to read), and this one about my fascination with sticks and knives. I hope you enjoy it.Do you like knives and or sticks? Do you have a pretty cool cooking or hunting knife? How about some sort of collectors ancient native stick? Post a picture and / or leave your comments below; and …
The stick has always been part of our evolution. Regardless of any other technological advantages of yesteryear and now, and possibly the future, we humans have always used sticks.
Through time and space, the stick has been a great tool; not only to humans but to other primates as well. It is as if by nature, certain kinds of species seek it. As if the stick and the body were meant to be together.
Whether to hunt, to defend, to reach and harvest, to poke, and to push, to be used as a lever, as a fishing pole, as a paddle, to hike, to hammer things down. Or as a cooking device - macerating, stirring, crushing, rotisserie-ing, skewering, cutting, to cook inside of, and even to cook on). There aren't many tools with which we can do as much as we have done with the stick.
What else do we use sticks for? Of course, some people used sticks for pleasure. Also, for sports, to play and imagine swords, as imaginary flying devices, and magic wands. On many supernatural ideologies the stick has been the key to connect this world to another dimension. Of all the tools that humans have used, there aren't many as useful as the stick. Until we came up with the knife.
Yes, there's the old "sticks and stones" sentiment, but when humans learned how to make knives, the stones were chipped or shaped to be sharpened up. And while there have been many other inventions, the knife has been one of humanity's greatest allies, along with sticks. The stone has its uses of course, but they are not ordinarily carried around: too heavy for little use.
Some say that knives were invented sometime back when there was no social media, maybe even before the internet, and perhaps way back before humans started farming. There are stories of old about how knives have been passed from generation to generation, and how they used to be forged. There is a whole folklore around them. Knives have been imbued with powers and a magical (and even supernatural) meaning. I say that just as we seek the stick we seek knives, naturally, instinctively, organically.
Cooking is a very dear activity to me, and in this kind of situation a knife always comes in handy. Wouldn't you agree? We can use it to open cans or other food containers, to cut meat, to slice open a nice fruit; or to sharpen a stick to cook with. If there is no stick to do the things, we do with it to cook, guess what we use? Please don't say spoon, we are talking about essential functions here. But if you want to take it that far, know this; there have been situations in which a spoon has been used as a stick or sharpened up one way or another… to use as some sort of cutting device.
Think about it. We (humans) have, on necessary occasions or for purposeless DIY-ing, made tools dysfunctional to their primary function, to turn them into some kind of stick or knife-like devices (or combination of both).
Sticks and knives go together perfectly fine. They can work together but separately, together-together, or completely independent of one another but in the same task; in the kitchen or in many other situations. Most military training in history has utilized some sort of knife and some sort of stick as their primary weapons for combat training.
They used spears, and bayonets (which is a shooting stick with a knife as a tip); and they used bows and arrows (a stick with rope, that shoots a pointy stick - that sometimes have a knife for a tip.
I am no knife connoisseur, or collector. Besides the knives I have inherited or been given by special people (what they mean or have meant to me), most of my knives have not been really good when compared to the best of their kind. Most knives I've had have been dull, or simply not of my preference, but they have come in handy most of the time.
Whatever their purpose (stick and knives) they have to be firm or sharp enough to fulfill their primary functions, whether emotional or technical.
I am no stick connoisseur either, if there is even such a thing. Although I imagine that people who make sticks for different purposes might know a thing or two. I wonder what kind of wood is best for a good broom stick. But nevertheless, it is not like I know much about it. I just know that I must have a stick in the car, in the laundry room, in my office; or somewhere near enough that the presence of it puts me at ease. Just like I do with knives.
There is an ethereal connection between the three; humans, knives, and sticks. As if they were extensions of the body that were meant to be found and implemented (updates if you will). Sticks and knives are two moveless, and lifeless things that along the way have helped us (humans) to either improve or support movement and life itself.
The end!