The wonderful thing about the Internet is how many viewpoints and perspectives there are out there that can save a person a lot of time trying to articulate his own. And I found one that suits me and mine. If you haven’t taken the time to explore the SurvivalBlog.com do it. I have barely scratched the surface and have found so many interesting things. I generally download or copy and paste the stuff that I think has value and add it to my growing digital library. That’s actually another project that I encourage. I have multiple digital folders divided by topics and some loose files that I have yet to definitively categorize.
At any rate, I read an article submitted by someone discussing as he ponders the need to retreat or not and why or why not. His main point is that he has faith in the indomitable American spirit and that the apocalyptic TEOTWAWKI event will not be as some expect; rampant cannibalism, mass gang take over, catastrophic disappearance of modern technologies and comforts. You can read the article on SurvivalBlog.com and decide for yourself.
Don’t get me wrong, I still believe that The End Of The World As We Know It is upon us. I just think that because the world we live in changes every day, each day is the beginning of the next World As We Will Come To Know It. My goal is to be ready to meet that new world and continue to exist through survival practices. Remember the Rubicon philosophy that survival isn’t as much about staying alive by returning to a primitive life style, but continuing to live comfortably with new (old) learned skills. Being prepared means not panicking when others do. Encouraging those we know to be ready (without completely divulging too much information about our prepared status) so that they may “survive” as well.
I am about half way through the novel “Patriots” authored by the same James Rawles, the guy behind the survivalblog.com web site. In the beginning, as he sets the scene for the impending event, he introduces two individuals that are to explain what happened in their countries in the eighties and nineties when their respective economies experienced rampant triple digit inflation. One of the characters was from Argentina. Well, I was in Argentina in ’81 and ’82 and experienced that event. I mostly talk about being there during the war, Malvinas or Falkland depending on your preference. When I got in country one U.S. Dollar exchanged for about 1,500 pesos. When I left it was about 20,000 pesos to the dollar. Do the math. They had already devalued their currency by lopping off two zeros. The confusion was trying to know the difference between goods priced with a difference in value of 10 X. There were 10,000 pesos worth 10,000 pesos “law” and 10,000 pesos worth 100 pesos “old” and so on. Coin currency became so worthless that I was able to acquire quite a collection picking up discarded coins thrown into the dirt. We found them everywhere we walked in the country dirt roads. Can you imagine using a $100 bill to pay for a $1 item? (Note: In this case it was pesos) That’s what was happening before I got there and it continued beyond the year and a half I was there. By the time I left we were living on less than half of what we started with at about $90 US per month. I still remember getting $1,000,000 peso bills from the bank. Yes, one million pesos, about $20 US. Okay, so now my point.
That nation weathered the economic storm with a war thrown in. It was difficult and almost impossible to get goods from other countries for the consumer markets. (Not such a bad thing if it were to happen to us. It would mean less foreign goods bought and maybe a return to US making products for US. Hmmm, more local jobs, less unemployment, less dependence on outside countries.) There was always food. I guess the food producers who make a living producing food figured out that if they didn’t make food for the rest they wouldn’t survive either. In more rural areas people who had a little plot of land had gardens, raised a pig, a goat, a cow. Buses and trains moved, people rode them, cars were used and people drove them. That means that there was fuel, all of which was produced in country. We never had a loss of electrical power, water or other utility services. Restaurants were open and I remember going to the Argentine version of El Polo Loco to get roasted chicken and cold cuts to make sandwiches at the end of a long day. Merchants plied their wares. There were no riots, no massive crime waves, and certainly no cannibalism. The people were and are basically good and no matter how screwed up the government and economy was they persevered. We will do the same. I believe we will do better because since the beginning of our history we have been a nation that overcomes adversity, finds a better way, has more resources, and gets things done.
No doubt there will be shortages, crime, and bad people taking advantage of a bad situation, lack of lots of stuff, and even death. But, we have to remember, the greatest majority of Americans are good, law abiding, somewhat religious, hard working people who will not just roll over and give up. Those that have no will to work and continue to live outside the norms of society will become the desperate that will go away naturally or with a little help from the majority. Government may break down but it won’t disappear completely. Its power will become more localized, not such a bad thing. Law may get bounced around but I believe it will survive on its own and may get somewhat simplified on the local level. Hands may get bloodied but eventually they will just get dirty as we learn to do for ourselves and band together with others doing the same. The important thing to remember is that being prepared so that you don’t have to act or react out of desperation leaves you with many more options than the alternative of doing nothing and becoming a victim.
Being able to exist with your morals and values in place can be most easily accomplished by doing what we are doing. I am encouraged by how much more mainstream “survival-ism” has become. Hundreds of web sites, television shows (Apocalypse PA on the History channel, The Colony
When we talk about TEOTWAWKI it always seems so “end of times” and final. But just as every day becomes final a new day begins. Taking on the challenge of getting prepared for that new day has a tendency to be somewhat overwhelming. Most people will start, do some investigating, buy a few things, and then get disheartened or disinterested and simply stop. Their day of preparation comes to an end and they go about their merry way never giving thought to the next day that they aren’t prepared for.
Survivalism is a combination of knowledge, skills, opportunity and desire. Survivalism is living out of the ordinary and usually in an extreme situation. Survivalism is like a diet. A real diet requires changing your life style to accommodate the goal (of weight loss or better health). Survivalism first requires becoming a “Prepper” with the goal of changing your life style so that surviving in abnormal conditions becomes second nature. It becomes a mindset that directs you each day to be better prepared than the day before. It is not a onetime activity that you can say you have completed and now sit back and wait for something to happen.
I have been at this preparedness thing for more than nine years and have learned that there is no end to being prepared and no final step that says that you have arrived.
Everyday should have one or two activities that help educate or enlighten you to the possibility of an End Of The World As We Know It event. Check out a new web site, read and do what others have done or are doing and incorporate that knowledge and experience into your plan. Learn a new skill; knots, fire starting, marksmanship, cooking outdoors, impromptu shelters, water purification techniques, living without electricity, etc. It’s really about doing something. Meeting the challenge of life changing events head on and conquering them. Not losing to that which would compromise your morals or standards of normal life.
So, lest anyone think that I am truly panicked, I am not. However, I am more, now than ever, convinced that it is still better to “expect the worst and hope for the best.” It is always better to be prepared years in advanced than to find yourself unprepared a minute too late. And never, ever think that you know it all.
I ask you, “What are you doing today to be better prepared?” Myself, I will be going to Svendsen’s Marine Supply to pick up some PRI-G. If you are curious to know what it is, do some research on the web. I will also be adding to my digital library, inventorying my reloading supplies and survival equipment, scheduling some more range time, planning some outdoor activities for practicing, reading the hundreds of downloads and trying some of them out, reprioritizing my needs, and continuing to spread the word. I hope that you are doing something similar. Spread the word!