Who needs a flashlight?

Last Friday myself and a few others were navigating to the back of a warehouse at a customer site when we had to pass through part of the darkened warehouse. Our guide warned us that the we'd have to make our way back through the dark, and as soon as we entered the darkened area I shined my Surefire E2 at the ceiling to give us all enough light to keep from walking into or tripping over anything. Our guide chuckled and said, "There we go!"

When we were out of the dark my boss turned and asked incredulously, "You really carry a flashlight with you all the time?" To which I replied; "Yeah, but I've thought about quitting it. I mean, when am I really gonna need it?" The people with us laughed a little bit, and my boss shook his head and said, "Yeah, I guess I didn't really think about that before I said it."

I can't count the times my flashlight has helped me find something odd in a dark place, increased my visibility as a pedestrian, or given me piece of mind by illuminating an otherwise dark area. People complain that they don't want to be bothered with flashlights that they'll rarely use. When you can pick up an enormously tiny E1E with batteries that keep for over 10 years, and clip it to your pocket or beltloop and forget about it, there's really no reason why you should be caught without a flashlight.