Readiness

Lifelong preparedness for that one critical moment.

While walking with a rifle or shotgun in the streets of Longyearbyen in Svalbard, tourists would invariably look at us, amused. Thinking, and frequently sharing those thoughts, that being armed in town was overkill, unjustified, intimidating, and as a Canadian female tourist proudly opinionated, “a sad demonstration of toxic masculinity.”

In Longyearbyen…