Great New Flashlight

PentagonLight has made a fantastic new flashlight. Unfortunately it's a bit out of my price range. Still, I'd love to get one.

But the interesting thing is not the light, but the comments it engendered over on Gizmodo, linked above. Specifically:

"I've got no idea who'd carry this creepy thing around: I guess you'd have to be pretty scared indeed if something like this in your bag made you feel safer."

I just don’t get the idea that carrying a weapon means that you're scared. Are you living in fear of having a flat because you have a spare tire? Are you scared of having a dead battery because you carry jumper cables? Are you actively horrified of cutting yourself because you have band-aids? Are you in fear of heart-attacks because you learn CPR? Or do all these things represent common sense preparations for the things that life might throw at you? Honestly, is being prepared for bad things in life a sign of fear or a sign of common sense?

I like to hike. I like to go deep into the woods. I carry a GPS most of the time. I also carry a compass, and depending how far into the woods I'm going, a map. Why the map and compass? Why even learn how to read a map or use a compass once you've got a GPS? Am I SCARED of getting lost? No. Not at all. Quite the opposite in fact. I don't get lost. I'm simply prepared.

So what is it with this attitude? Does it really come down to the fact that some people are sheep and anything that reminds them of the wolves in the world is "creepy"? I try to understand the point of view, but it just doesn't make any sense to me.

Since I left home, a long time ago, I’ve had one flat tire and one encounter with a pair of muggers. I was happy I had a spare tire and a weapon in each incident respectively.