Iron

There is Dear Reader an old profession of long ago, which seems in modern day to once again have succumbed like the proverbial dodo, I refer in this case to the Tinker. This person would arrive at one's house and offer and provide all sorts of opportunities to fix pots and pans and the like. The main service, however, was to sharpen one's knives.
For in this field this person specialised, carrying the correct tools for the job. Yet throughout history, as people have tried to maintain a sharp blade through either specific whetstones or something even harder, many have fallen back to the basic principle that iron sharpens iron.
The simplest thing to keep a sharp blade is another sharp blade. One cleaning away the rust and dullness of the other while having the same service offered to them. The only requirement being contact.
In the same way, humans sharpen one another, keeping each other keen and bright. Yet today, as so many knives are bought and used until they are dull and then replaced. So we see humans being treated in such a similar fashion.
We spurn the very thing which will bring us life, contact with those who have the ability to sharpen us. The problem is exacerbated in that not only do we fail to seek out these people. We actively run away from them. Community in people's minds is fine as long as no requirement is placed upon them to have accountability. Therefore, as these two people touch one another's lives, at the point of pressure where the sharpening should take place, they back away and continue to live singularly dull lives.
So therefore, Dear Reader, I ask you to reflect. Are you allowing yourself to sharpen others, and be sharpened yourself? Are you truly iron?