Maybe the world is warming.
Maybe this can be seen as the Earth having fever and these recent shivers are an attempt to get rid of bacteria (us) which are now doing more harm than good.
Maybe Mother Earth can no longer support and sustain our acquisitive ways and she is seeking to reduce our numbers to more manageable levels.
Okay... that might be a stretch - but as recent weather related events show, many of us are not prepared to function without technology or our current economic system.
Many have become so dependant on the government that they cannot fend for themselves.
(Just look at the results from Hurricane Katrina for evidence of this.)
Many young adults have become so dependent on their parents that they have to live at home well into adulthood.
Many have become so comfortable that they all to easily get sick.
Many have become so accustomed to Google that few actually know anything.
Life has become so convenient that few people actually know how to grow, build, make or repair anything.
If a natural catastrophe hit - would you survive?
No, I'm not talking about living through it (Which often has as much to do with luck as it does with knowledge, resources and preparation.) - I'm asking whether you have enough knowledge to survive without the comforts we have become used to.
Could you grow your own food?
Would you know what plants and bugs to eat?
Can you shoot a gun without wasting bullets?
Can you fight?
Do you know your friends and neighbors well enough that you can form alliances to increase your chances for long term survival?
Can you build, grow or repair anything?
Chances are, you've become so dependent on others that you would be of no use to anyone, not even yourself.
Go through a natural disaster.
No phone, no electricity, no money (Stores and banks close and people value their immediate resources more than a few hundred dollars. Your money can't buy squat.), no running water, no heat, no anything.
You'll have to become McGyver and Grizzly Adams.
You'll have to manage your limited resources and leverage your connections to get you to the point where people again begin to think rationally.
You'll have to use the lessons learned from past eperiences to survive your current situation.
(Back in the day, poor people knew how to be poor. People knew how to make things last. People knew how to get the most out of the least. Poor people could survive anything. These days almost everyone would revert to more atavistic behaviors and kill each other over a warm jacket or a loaf of bread. These days, people have become so selfish that they would eliminate each other leaving only pockets of those who retained any form of civility to rule over them.)
Yeah... it's cold out.
But are you and your children prepared to function if we have a perfect storm of natural and man made catastrophes?
Could you and yours survive the collaspe of civilization as we know it?
Good question. For me - just depends on the catastrophe & circumstances. Like Katrina for instance. I know me, and I would have been one of the FIRST people to evacuate when they said that hurricaine was coming. So what if people call you paranoid - no harm in being prepared.
ReplyDeleteThe bid midwest storm that just went through was supposed to hit my area hard. It didn't. But I had water, canned goods, wood, lighter fluid, matches, a lighter, batteries, tons of paper and lots of blankets just in case.
*big
ReplyDeleteYes, because I have enough money and sense to run to Mexico and live there where they already know how.
ReplyDeleteMost of your predictions will come true as canned food is seen as poor people food instead of having a stash ready for survival.
So when you see the Black guy crossing the border hop on cuz I'm going to eat some tortillas.
Maybe the world really is going to come to an end in 2012.
ReplyDeletemyself along with a small group of friends and immediate family are currently preparing for such an event and we all have our individual studies of basic skills from first aid and farming all the way down to hand to hand combat and self defense in order to better our chances in the event that it all falls down... who knows what the future holds but id rather be prepared that looking sick when its too late.
ReplyDeleteGrizzly Adams.... funny you bring him up. Remiond me to tell you one of these days about how I used to live in a tipi.
ReplyDeleteTo a degree and it depends on what kind of disaster.
ReplyDeleteIf one has a source of protein like chickens, eggs, guinea hens, hogs, some folks here still keep a couple cows on thier land for milk and making cheese, even tree lizards are eaten here by some. Banana plants, corn, yuca, and other root plants, pumpkins, avocado, orange, lemon, grapefruit, breadfruit, guava, guenip, coffee, mango trees, etc. If one has this type of setup, plus a well that taps into the many underground currents that run through the islands, one can survive some disasters, not all. but it does help to be auto sufficient, it's a little more work but a lot more fun. That's always been my dream, to have a farm with all these type of things, I always tell my kids, when they buy a house to make sure it has enough land and established fruit trees on it.
I've been giving all my peeps the shout out for as long as I can remember now telling them that things could really get messy one day soon.
ReplyDeleteOf course they all laugh at me and call me the fool. At least I know I will not have any such bad happenings on my conscience. For I have tried with everything I had to carry the message no one wanted to hear.
@ Freeman (DF) you know we will be chillin' together down in Mexico when the do-do hits the fan and is flying all over the place up this way hey there bro.
@ Amanda - I think you are onto something, only your timing is a little off.
THINK 2011!
{laughing}
The day of judgment is not five years out, it is for all those that did not believe in the Lord.
They are all getting an express ticket straight to hell long before the Lord judges the rest of the world.
Solomon,
ReplyDeleteI really hope not. I have read the list of foods it is suggested we stockpile and I would rather not have to suffer them.
@ RunningMom - Damn... you must have been a Boy Scout.
ReplyDelete@ FreeMan - Se Habla Espanol?
But really, that makes sense.
Those who were hurt the most in Katrina had no resourses, knowledge or skills and DIDN'T leave.
Earthquakes are harder - there is no warning.
Cali is screwed because there are few places to evacuate to - only the surrounding desert.
Money is nice to have but it is of little use when resources are that limited.
People were turning down five times the price of a gallon of gas after Rita because no one was sure when we could get more.
(Although I cheated. One of my neighbors oversees the county's emergency gasoline supplies so he'd bring us free five gallon containers for our generators.)
When things get bad - hard assets become more valuable than money.
@ MissAJ - Cyclones, floods and wildfires Down Under - are you okay?
@ brohammas - A Tipi?
I know... you were an Eagle Scout.
@ Desertflower - If one has the resources to feed chickens, hogs, cows...
If the choice came down to feeding them and feeding yourself you'd have some skinny livestock.
But it sounds as though you would not wait for someone to help you.
You sound like you'd be able to think through the situation in order to survive.
@ Solomon - Dude, if people just had small vegetable gardens and fruit and/or nut trees in their yards food would be availible after most disasters.
Most of my neighbors are from the country and few suffered after our hurricanes because they knew how to get food and collect water when these were not availible through the more common sources.
If you live in a neighborhood where no one knows anyone and no one helps anyone - you're probably screwed. Everyone will be out for themselves and they will probably end up killing each other off.
It seems that every area has had some type of disaster and by now we should know who we would want on our team and who would just be dead weight.
UBJ... well, yes I was, but the tipi was actually before that. I was one of those strange kids who just kinda got that rank as my family's lifestyle already did all the things scouts was tryin to teach us.
ReplyDelete@UBJ - C'mon you can't be Black guy in LA without picking up Spanglish. I know more than enough to get by and will be bilingual if I'm fully immersed.
ReplyDeleteI understand the money not being useful but what happens here doesn't always effect the world. Just like Katrina didn't dent Mexico nor Canada. Those who have that full tank of gas and live close enough could easily cross and humble theirselves and start all over.
In the end what's valuable is the will of the man. The person who is willing to embrace the change the fastest and capitalize on it will survive.
@ FreeMan - Getting there is half the problem.
ReplyDeleteSure, I'd be good if I could make it 200 miles to the family farms in Louisiana - but it might be hard to get through all the idiots on the way.