Disclaimer: Although I have had this type of conversation recently with various family and friends, this post is not intended to single anyone out, challenge their opinions or generally belittle any certain person. It is simply on my mind and I wanted to write it out and clarify my opinions.

Do you keep bandaids in your medicine chest? Do you have extra money in your savings account?  Do you have a tire iron in your car? Do you have a flashlight in your house? Do you keep extra batteries? Do you have a gas can in your garage?

Guess what…this makes you a “survivalist” I am sure you just shuddered at the use of that word as vision of kool aid swigging, gun toting, head shaving cult members danced in your head. A lot of people have a misconstrued idea of what a survivalist is. Among mainstream thinking it is an ugly word reserved only for those who wear tin foil on their head and preach about the end of the world. In reality, it is simply planning ahead. Having band aids on hand if you get a cut, it doesn’t mean you have a cut now, but you are ready in case you do.

According to Wikipedia

Survivalism is a commonly used term for the preparedness strategy and subculture of individuals or groups anticipating and making preparations for future possible disruptions in local, regional, national, or international social or political order. Survivalists often prepare for this anticipated disruption by learning skills (e.g., emergency medical training), stockpiling food and water, preparing for self-defense and self-sufficiency, and/or building structures that will help them to survive or “disappear” (e.g., a survival retreat or underground shelter).

The specific preparations made by survivalists depend on the nature of the anticipated disruption(s), some of the most common scenarios being:

1. Natural disaster clusters, and patterns of apocalyptic planetary crises or Earth changes, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, and severe thunderstorms, etc.
2. A disaster brought about by the activities of mankind: chemical spills, release of radioactive materials, nuclear or conventional war, or an oppressive government.
3. General collapse of society, resulting from the unavailability of electricity, fuel, food, and water.
4. Monetary disruption or economic collapse, stemming from monetary manipulation, hyperinflation, deflation, and/or worldwide economic depression.
5. Widespread chaos, or some other unexplained apocalyptic event

The running theme in all of that is the old Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared”

Sure, it can be taken to extremes, as anything can be. In the face of this borderline pandemic, faltering economy, natural disasters; being prepared is taking on a sense of not being “fashionable” but just plain common sense.

In one on-line forum I belong to, it was asked “if (when facing this flu) is anyone doing anything different than before?” The majority of the answers, were a resounding “No” The general feeling was that to do anything different was to be paranoid and plain weird.

In my own life, we are doing things a little differently. I went to the store without the kids and stocked up on things that we would purchase within the next few weeks. It’s an attempt to try to limit exposure for my children and myself.

When talking to one of my friends we began to discuss the whole “weirdness” of being prepared. What if you/your spouse lost your job and due to the economy and were out of work for months? Do you have enough in savings to not just keep the house; but keep the lights on, feed the kids, etc? What if there was a natural disaster such as a severe storm and the town was destroyed, grocery stores emptied, gas hard to get? How would you provide basic needs with not being able to get supplies? Is being prepared for these things really all that weird or is it just common sense?

I am not suggesting we all build bunkers and start raising chickens, but I do want to get the point across that we need to be responsible for ourselves and not blind to the future.

Best lesson of all?

It was not raining when Noah built the ark.

Categories: Economy, General Junk, Prayer, Recession