Don't lick the knife

When I finished high school, in our last month of classes, my English teacher decided to compile a list of life lessons we have all accumulated throughout the years and which we would like to share as advice with our classmates in order to make sure we are properly set off into the world with at least some principles to guide us through. This was all kind of ironic considering that I went to one of those schools which required an entrance exam and where we had to do monthly reflections on our life and our learning process and how it relates to the grand scheme of things, but I digress. To be honest I don't remember much of that list (I don't even remember what I myself wrote), but there was one advice that stuck, mostly because it was unexpected and overall it seemed pointless.

Don't lick the knife.

Really?? Most people were talking about happiness and taking life with a smile and this one person thought that this was the most relevant thing to keep in mind while we embark on the rest of our lives?? My theory is that whoever wrote it was one of those funny guys who sit in the back, set the toilets on fire and in general don't take themselves too seriously. So maybe it was initially set as a joke, but ironically this is what stuck with me all these years. Why? I shall now share a secret. I.... always.... lick the knife! And whenever I find myself in that position, there is this voice at the back of my head telling me "Don't lick the knife!"

So I think there may be something to take from all of this.

1) People always do what they're not supposed to. I mean it's not for nothing that the longest novel in the history of mankind (aka the Bible) starts with someone breaking the rules.

2) Doing what you shouldn't does not have to have disastrous consequences on your life. You just have to use the right technique.

I guess this might resonate more with me right now because I feel like I've been doing a lot of things I shouldn't have lately. And maybe I didn't always have the right technique and the knife did cut a couple of times. But hey, sometimes you have to push your boundaries in order to know where the limit lies. And no amount of lists and advice can teach you that.