a story about knives

I used to read National Geographic when I was a kid, and there was this entire episode about the atomic bomb, and how they work. I read about how they split the atom, and how it causes a reaction, which causes the explosion (in the simplest of terms).

I was also really into knives, and using my Dad’s sharpening stone because it contained DIAMOND dust. I always thought “let’s collect the diamond dust and mash it into a diamond and be rich, dad!” but he informed me that it doesn’t really work that way.

So I was sharpening my pocketknife one day, and I stopped dead in my tracks. “Not TOO sharp” I thought. Because I could swing it in the air JUST RIGHT and accidentally split an atom, causing not only my destruction but the destruction of the entire world.

That’s when the nuclear war nightmares started. I was a dumb kid.