Wikipedia describes a pocket knife as this –

"A pocket knife is a folding knife with a blade that fits inside the handle and that is small enough to fit in a pocket. Blades are typically no larger than 3 to 5 in. (8 to 13 cm) in length. Pocket knives are very versatile tools, and may be used for anything from opening an envelope, to cutting twine, to slicing an apple."

I know some guys why don’t carry a knife on them.  When I asked them why they don’t pack a pocketknife, their answers varied from person to person.  "I can’t have one in class," one person told me.  Bah, it is totally legal to carry a folding pocket knife with a blade under 5 inches (which is pretty freaking huge) anywhere on the MSC campus.  Another person told me, "I can’t afford one.  New knives are expensive."  Another lame excuse.  Your knife doesn’t have to be new; on the contrary, a knife with history (like one given by a dad or grandad) is so much cooler than a new one. 

I know one thing for sure – nothing is less manly than asking to use another guy’s knife.  Guys should carry their own blade – here are 20 reasons why.

These first 8 reasons come from the Art of Manliness blog – a great resource for learning about being a man in the 21st century.  Notes added by me will be in italics.

1. Opening a box.
2. Cutting rope, tags, and string (or anything else… cutting is what knives do best)
3. Cutting an apple. I love eating an apple that I’ve cut with my pocket
   knife, slice by slice. You feel like a bad ass doing it. You hold the
   apple in your non-dominant hand and then make a slice with the knife
   using your dominant hand. After you make the slice, pinch it between
   your thumb and knife blade. Bring the blade to your mouth and deposit
   the apple slice. (I agree here – nothing is much cooler than eating an apple with your knife)
4. Opening a letter. Sure, you could use your finger, but using a knife is just more manly.
5. Weapon. Not the most effective, but it’s better than nothing.  (Maybe not as good as a 52" Scottish claymore, but if I were facing off against a grizzly bear, I’d rather my knife than nothing.) 
6. Camping. How else will you sharpen the point of a stick in preparation for stabbing your prey? And by prey I mean hot dog.
7. You never know when you’re going to have to MacGyver your way out of a crisis. Be prepared.
8. You need something to clench in your teeth when swinging from a rope.  (Pirates!  ARRRGGG!)
9. (These next 7 reasons are all new!  Enjoy!)  Check out Genesis 22:1-14.  Abraham needed a knife – imagine if he had to go over and borrow one before leaving.  That would have been tough to explain to your neighbor.
10. One word – Rambo.  You try digging a bullet out of your leg with a stick.
11. How else can you whittle the head of a wizard out of a piece of wood in a boring afternoon?
12. Without owning a knife, you can’t learn to properly sharpen a knife.  Knowing how to properly sharpen a pocket knife is the basis for sharpening any other hand tool (chisels, hand planes, broad swords, etc.)
13. It’s useful for gutting your first deer, antelope or moose kill when out hunting.  Try doing THAT with a stick.
14. You could tie it to the end of a long stick to use as a hunting spear, just in case you ever get lost in the woods a couple hundred miles from civilization and need to survive, ala Survivorman.
15. Last, but not least – the ladies think they’re cool.  Given a choice between a two guys of near equal attractiveness, one of which is using his knife to do something listed above and the other is not, it’s proven that 9 out of 11 times a lady will chose to talk to the guy with the knife.  Knives symbolize danger in the woman’s mind – it’s attractive.  Just be careful to watch out for the lady that carries a knife too, especially if it’s bigger than yours.  She could be psycho, or awesome, or both.

So, there ya go.  Go find a knife, and carry it proudly.  Man up.

 Once, long ago, men knew how to be men.  There were no "gender neutral" bathrooms, and there wasn’t a question of who went out and killed dinner with a spear.  Things have changed.  There are lots of single fathers who have to do take care of the kids, and there ARE gender neutral bathrooms, and most men haven’t ever killed any animal, unless you can count the cat that you accidentally hit with your Ford Taurus.  And you can’t eat that (or your shouldn’t at least.)

Now, these things don’t necessarily define manhood, but they are a lot closer than TPS reports and cooking mac and cheese.  Many men have lost their concept of manhood.  During the time of college men set up who they are going to be for the rest of their lives, so this is the time that it’s important to lock in their concept of what it is to be a man.

At Manday, we look at the real Jesus as our example of who we want to be.  Not the nice, boring Jesus that you see paintings of up on people mantle, but the dangerous, subversive, loving, protecting, strong Jesus that He really was.  Niceness is killing men, binding them to do the easy thing all the time, to give up on ever being a leader and to shun responsibility, and denying them the greater reward that comes with hardship. 

At Manday, we work to break these bonds and free men to be who God created them to be.  We live by four principles; 1. Accept responsibilty, 2. Lead courageously, 3. Reject passivity, and 4. Seek the greater reward.  We also laud the doing of anything cool – whether it be building a fire with sticks, throwing hatchets, knowing how to sharpen and use a broadsword, or watching too much Monday night football. 

So men, harken unto the calling that God has given.  Come, be a part of something bigger than yourself, learn how to fend off a zombie attack and share the wisdom of using the I formation!  Manday calls.  Clear your schedules.  Do something you’ve never tried before.  Live.