Walking With a Cane

One of the charms of living in Porto is that there's a wealth of old stuff everywhere, so when I asked my wife if she knew anyone with a good old fashioned walking cane, she could inform me that her mother had one at her house that I could borrow.

The cane I've borrowed is less than a meter long, so it was never meant as support for weak legs. Rather, it's a reference to the sword that gentlemen used to carry with them during the 18th century. When this became illegal in most cities during the 19th century, the sword transformed into the walking cane, of which I now have a specimen for my own use.

The purpose of the cane is the same as that of a sword. People carried them as warnings to pocket thieves and aggressive beggars. The message was clear: Get too close, and I either knock you on your head or poke you with the pointy end. It's also ideal in this day and age where hobby fascists abound. No-one has stopped to shout at me since I started carrying a cane on my daily walks.

The effect is immediate and primeval, and I absolutely love it. Not only does it keep the fascists away, it makes me feel secure and strong in a very basic way. It's as if the very act of holding a cane in my hand releases testosterone into my bloodstream. We're talking basic caveman stuff. The guy with a stick is one notch up from the guy without a stick. If you don't have a stick yourself, don't mess with the guy who has one. If you have one, and you upset someone else with one, be prepared for a duel.

I'm sure a society full of guys carrying sticks is way harder to rule over than a society where everyone is wearing a mask in fear of a virus, so the last thing politicians and hobby fascists would like to see is the return of this habit, and that is in itself a good reason to revive it. It also explains why the habit of carrying a walking cane has been greatly discouraged over the last century. Fashion houses have waged a war against masculinity for decades, no doubt in part to please their buddies in politics.

As is often the case, the solution to my problem has been blindingly obvious from the start. All my wondering and scheming have been nothing but blind alleys. The answer was there all along in the dress codes of old. People carried a walking cane for a reason. The cane wasn't just an eccentric bit of accessory. It was of great practical and symbolic importance, and we should revive it as part of a push towards a more civil society, because the potential for violence is not something to be feared. It should be embraced as key to civil behaviour.

Symbolism of this kind is not mere adornment. Every era of history has its dress code, art, architecture and literature that reflect the ideas of their time. If we are to retain our liberties into the next era, we better start acting and dressing in ways that reflect this. I suggest for starters that we start carrying a cane or some other symbol of violence to set the general tone of what we want to achieve.

Me with a cane