I occasionally hear the "MacGyver, Boy Scout, Inspector Gadget" reference but it does not bother me at all. People get to know that you are prepared and the less equipped people often come to me for help. It has gotten to the point at work that if I am taking my packsack in the bush, my work partner does not even bring his.

It is a sign of our changing times. I gave a presentation on Basic Wilderness Survival Skills to the local rural Anglers and Hunters group last week. The is an older crowd with most of the members being 45 years and older. When I talked about EDC, I asked "who carries a knife every day", almost all did, and about half carried carried a means to make a fire. This was normal to them as they have carried these tools ever since they were children.

When I ask the same questions to a younger group (teenagers to mid 20's) almost no one carried a knife and it seemed odd to them that anyone would. Society is changing, we cannot carry the "tools of survival" everywhere with us anymore as we are expected to rely on others for our safety and security.

People today are interested and can be educated in preparedness, an example of this happened last weekend. My teenage daughter was invited out with a group of classmates to celebrate a boy's 14th birthday. My daughter asked me what a teenage boy would like for a present? After laughing over the obvious reply, I found amongst my rubble a new boxed medium-size Swiss Army Knife (Weekender model I think). My daughter was not sure this was a good gift, but it was last minute so she wrapped it. As it turned out the SAK was a big hit, her friend really liked it and maybe we have made someone a little more prepared.

(I should conclude this story buy saying that I know the boy who received the SAK is a responsible good kid and his parents would have no problem with him havining a knife.)

Mike