Letter: The Sad, Silent Preppers

I enjoy reading SurvivalBlog and a couple of other sites. It consoles what I call myself as “the sad, silent preppers.” “Who are they”, you ask? They are the ones like me. My wife thinks I am insane and not trusting God enough and gets angry when I show her the Scriptures. The good thing is that she doesn’t talk to me for a couple of days after that. My children understand why I do it, but they have absolutely no enthusiasm in it. My in-laws also think I am totally crazy but for different reasons. “Nothing like that will ever happen; God wouldn’t allow it to happen to America.”

I have started off and on in this journey over the past 4-5 years, with less than desirable results. I tried a small garden this year, the first one in five years. It was only three items and a fall garden, so the results were also very minimal. I had zero help from my wife, and my last son at home liked to help with the watering and digging up the hard Georgia soil. I think next year’s garden will be a combination of pots, vertical gardening, and possibly straw bale gardening. We are moving in the June-July time frame, so I would like something easily portable. I don’t expect any help with this garden either.

I admit to keeping the wrath down at the house; I have been doing my prepping covertly. I buy beans and rice in smaller packages every payday and put them in a five gallon bucket than can hold food items. I will add to this as time goes, but I hope to eventually have beans, rice, sugar, honey, and even Splenda for the wife. After that, I will start on the canned goods, toilet paper, paper towels, et cetera. She looks at my reloading and dehydrating as a small hobby that keeps me happy. If I step where she considers “out-of-bounds”, the ostracism starts. Yes, I have given in at past times and was pretty wimpy about it. I do love and care for my wife and family, so leaving her is not an option or even a realistic thought.

What about my local friends for encouragement you ask? Again, they think I wear tin foil hats at home, or that I am certifiably insane. I quit bringing the subjects up, because I got tired of being laughed at. I only know of one other like-minded person, and he is planning on moving to the Redoubt in the near future. I do have other like-minded close friends, but they live several states away. I have a standing agreement with them if I ever show up, but that is not a reality for me in a SHTF scenario. I will have to bug-in.

I can’t grow things, can things, or be able to do much of anything with my hands, but I am trying to learn. I know my specialty is thinking far outside the box and security of just about any given area. I can become an aggressor in my mind and look for the open holes that most don’t think of. In another life (if I believed in that sort of thing), I was probably an anarchist. I can think logically and maintain some level of composure when others are going crazy. I have been called “flat-lined” and “unflappable,” and I consider those terms compliments.

Why am I writing this? I’m writing to let other sad and silent preppers, like me, know there are others out there, to try and give hope and encouragement to those feeling totally alone. Please do not quit or give up hope, as there are more of us out here than you could possibly imagine. Reading stories of families that live the lifestyle I can only dream of does encourage me, but I haven’t really read about my group.

“I will never give up, and I will never surrender”(1), and I will “rage against the dying of the light” (2) as I see the storms approaching. My solace is upon a Holy God that promised never to leave nor forsake me. (Matthew 28:20) I know it will be tough to survive long term. I am within a one hour radius of Atlanta and have several large cities between us. If God decides my time is over, may I die in a pile of brass.

(1) “Never Give In Speech”, 1941 Prime Minister Winston Churchill

(2) “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, 1954, Dylan Thomas