Why do I edc? Well, 1. 'Merica, and I can, 2. Because I want to.
It has been my observation that in a "situation", all you have for resources is what you have on you at that moment. All the goodies that you have at home, all the goodies in your car, or office, they don't count--they might as well not even exist. Now, you can't carry EVERYTHING that you might need, so you have to compromise some things, for example, a multi tool instead of a tool box of tools, or a pocket flashlight in lieu of generator powered work light, or a pocket pistol in lieu of an AR-15 or RPG.
Like Red Green says, "If the women don't find you handsome, they can still find you handy", or something close to that--you get the idea. If I'm not prepared to handle "situations", and I have to depend on someone else, I feel like less of a man. It may be a conservative western culture thing, maybe I've watched too many macho John Wayne movies, but the image of the independent, self-sufficient man is my ideal. Getting older, and having some disabilities now is devastating to my ego, as I have no choice but to ask for and get help from others. Life is hard, getting old is harder.