Dear SurvivalBloggers:
I would like to offer a personal experience with a situation that might help Deborah C. and others like her. First of all she was very honest in her assessment of a future event and her concerns she mentioned and I think all Preppers have thoughts or experiences or thoughts that parallel Deborah’s to some extent. Future events, are unknowns for most and the ‘fears/concerns’ are valid, however how we react to or even function is helped by addressing the potential situation in the here and now. The adage we often hear in the Prepping community “Hope for the best and plan for the worst”, has the best attitude, hope and understanding for overcoming a future potential events.
My personal example that shook my world, took place in the 1980s while I was residing in Colorado on the Front Range between Denver and Colorado Springs, I witnessed a 100% attitude change in a group of mostly women that worked with my wife in Denver. These people where anti-gun, and self-protection was something that you left to the local police dept. My background in Firearms ownership, and hunting was a danger sign to these for the most part left wing people. The thought of having to hold a gun, let alone fire one was a very bad thing . At social functions, I was amazed and saddened at the positions and responses that these anti-gun people held. I would debate it to a point, but after a while would consider that you can not argue with an ignorant person and would realize it was not worth further discussion.
However, an event happened that shook their beliefs and amazed me. My wife’s secretary lived in a home in Castle Rock, Colorado (just south of Denver) was abducted from her home a few days before Christmas and her body was later found in the trunk of her abandoned car in Denver a few days later. She had been stabbed many times and finally strangled and left in the trunk of her car on top of Christmas presents for her son. What made things even more horrific was this happened in her home with her five year old son present. On that day my wife worried about the women being very late for work called her home and her little boy answered the phone and stated his mother was taken by a bad man. He must have seen some of the struggle and injury this young woman must have endured in the home.
A few weeks later my wife was approached by several of these former anti-gun, anti-self defense people that she worked with, who asked her if I would be willing to train them how to shoot, and also how to purchase a gun. I was a certified gun safety and FFL [1] dealer at the time. This event changed how they looked at a bad situations and how common sense took over. I had been at odds for several years with a lot of these people because of my position on firearms and self defense. The most common statement before this event was from them was “I would rather die or would allow someone to take my life than use a weapon to hurt someone”. I could not believe they would allow someone to hurt them. The sad thing is over the years I lost track of what ever happened in that case, I do not believe it was ever solved.
What I hope is that Deborah C. and others have a legitimate concern about potential reactions to a future event, however with training and a applied understanding that fear is natural, but how we react is in part learning to condition our thought process. As a result, the fear of the unknown, is understood and reaction becomes a natural process. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A great quote that really sums it up.
Happy Trails, – John in Arizona