It would generally go without saying, that we all should respect the knife, but really, a surprising number of people don’t. And they become…”patients.” People who carry knives regularly always seem to have some level of ease with regard to the movement of the knife, the safety mechanism and the way they close. Those of us who haven’t carried them around in our back pockets are clumsy and perhaps over-cautious. This in and of itself, can lead to mishaps. Okay, so don’t play around with knives. End of blog, right?
Wrong. Because we all use knives for the very basic activity of cooking and eating. I get chills in my fingers just thinking about my patients who cut off the tips of their fingers while chopping away at onions and celery. BE WARY. Never just start chopping without thinking about the position of your hands. Slow down. Ha! That’s not the first time you’ve heard me say that. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record.
So SLOW DOWN!
Every time I stick a sharp knife in the dishwasher, I think of my patients and friends who have cut their hands reaching in blindly to pull out utensils, forgetting they had put a knife, bad-side-up, in the silverware bin. Again…slow down. Look at every utensil you pull out of that basket. But better yet, NEVER put them in sharp-side-up! I don’t care what anyone said about getting them really clean, protecting the blade, or sparing the PLASTIC in your dishwasher. Put them in sharp side down. And even better…don’t put them in at all. Wash them by hand and put them away, where they can’t hurt anyone.
Just slow down and be mindful any time you’re around knives!