To Sheath or not Sheath?

For centuries men have carried different kinds of arms ranging from the curved stone hammer fastened to a stick with a piece of leather and hang from a leather belt around the waist by our cave-dwelling cousins from the Tugen Hills to the forged iron double-edged Simi (njora) carried in a leather Enchashur and slung from the waist on a well-decorated leather belt of our Maa speaking relatives.

In all the cases ranging from the caveman chasing down his family’s dinner on the plains of the Turkana to the Maasai Moran casually walking past a pride of lions in the Mara the weapons they bore were rarely carried in their hands unless there was imminent danger or a need to strike at something such as dinner.

As our other cousins walked across to the west they retained the same cultural habits of not carrying their weapons in their hands but instead would sling them from their waist, usually on a piece of leather.?You can see this from the sailing Vikings with their hammers slung from their waist to the gun-slinging cowboys of the Texas plains, not to forget the native Americans with their axes which they also were slung around the waist.

One would wonder why men over the centuries have felt it necessary to sling their weapons instead of just carrying them in their hands at all times.?In my opinion, it is because most of the time the man was carrying out activities that did not require the use of the weapons thus keeping them sheathed made sure they did not accidentally injure themselves or their loved ones.

In addition, keeping one’s weapon sheathed was a sign that you were a responsible bearer of arms and were aware of the power and responsibility it wielded.

If two men met along a narrow path, the encounter would be determined by where each had their weapons, if either had the weapon in their hand then it meant that their intentions were not friendly and so the other would also draw their weapon into their hands.

The responsible man needed both his hands-free to be able, for example, to raise low hanging branches so that his baby-carrying wife could safely pass under without banging her head or that of the baby.?

In the age of chivalry, the man needed both hands free so as to be able to pull off his cloak and lay it over a puddle so that his woman could walk over without getting her frock wet, to hold doors open for her and to pull out the chair for her to sit.?The fact that most men today walk around with their hands occupied could explain why chivalry is dead.

It is therefore shocking that behaviour which has been with us for millions of years, suggesting it is in the DNA, has suddenly been abandoned at the altar of technology with the man suddenly being comfortable always walking around with their weapon in their hands both physically and metaphorically.?

You will find a man even when sitting amongst those who seemed like friends or family will have their weapons placed nonchalantly on the table suggesting that they were in a hostile environment.?It also suggests that those in your presence are nothing more than placeholders for the more important person whose calls or texts are being anticipated.

The weapon that I am referring to is your mobile phone, or phones depending on your social status, which many today opt to carry in their hands at all times thus making themselves ineffective as men as one hand is always preoccupied which then makes it difficult for them to carry out the tasks expected of them.?

It also means that if something happens that requires them to use both hands they shall for all intents and purposes handicapped.

When the developers of the mobile phone were designing the product, they were aware that the consumer was already familiar with services offered by answering machines as well as telephone operators who picked the calls and if the recipient was not available wrote down a message.?

Those features are provided by the “missed call” log, voice mail and more recently a notification SMS.?In addition, one can create rules to forward calls to an assistant when they are not able to pick calls.?By setting call forwarding rules for caller groups one can reduce the disruption and distraction from callers whose call one would not want to take at certain times such as when in a meeting.

Most of the other services available on our mobile phones today do not require instant action and one can thus schedule when to engage with them but sadly many of us are unaware of the features based on how they treat their mobile phones like one would a street-side phone booth.?

For most of my life, apart from a short time of confusion when I carried around a briefcase in my hand, I have always tried my level best to keep my hands free and uncluttered just in case I needed to act swiftly, maybe it’s just the hangover from getting involved in bar brawls where there are no rules and those caught with their hands down got pounded.

Ever since I started carrying a communication device on my person from the analogue pager to the current eight-core device with enough power to calculate a trajectory for me to get to the moon they have always been holstered on my belt.?

My behaviour of always slinging my devices was recently raised by an old acquaintance when I bumped into him on the street and his first statement was “I see you still have your phone hanging from your belt” as he pointed to my side with the unsheathed phone in his hand.

Note, keeping your phone in your hand at all times with vibrate and ring tone active is likely a sign that you have either have no idea of the features of the device or how to use them, it could also be an unfounded sense of insecurity fearing that you might miss that vital call that you weren’t expecting.?

The same applies to keeping phones on the table when in a physical meeting with others, in a restaurant sharing a meal with someone else or the worst when having dinner with your family.

Keeping your phone sheathed and holstered is a sign that you have not lost your inherent male instinct of having your hands free for any eventuality, it also means that you know the power of this modern weapon as well as where, when and how to wield it.?

Like any other male appendage know when to sheath it and when not to as one must realise that the power they wield comes with a corresponding sense of responsibility and literally walking around with it always in your hand is a sign that you do not.

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