There is a whole spectrum of people out there when it comes to being prepared. They range from the completely unprepared (imagine far left of the spectrum) to prepared for lots of things (the middle) to the hard-core, I can survive in the world for years, survivalists (far right of the spectrum). I would rate myself a few clicks past the middle moving towards the right. For the totally unprepared and unaware, I say good luck but don't come knocking on my door when disaster strikes, anyone that oblivious can't be very helpful in a disaster. For the people who are moving from oblivious and heading towards preparedness, I am their biggest cheerleader. These people are trying to do something to improve their life and should be applauded. For the preparedness people all the way to hardcore survivalists, I say let me get my notebook, I want to take notes. These are the people you can learn a lot from.
Also in the middle, are the specialists, those who may not be well-versed in doing everything for themselves (such as hunting down their own meat, growing the vegetables to serve with it, building their own home, and performing emergency surgery) but they do know a whole bunch about one, two, or a range of preparedness topics; I like to take notes from these people as well. They include the HAM radio enthusiasts, the guys at the gun range who know seemingly everything about firearms, the prolific gardeners, builders, emerging disease researchers, etc.
Where do you fit in the spectrum?
If you think about what COULD go wrong, you would spend the rest of your life preppin' - its never done. I just try to think are the common factors (food, medicine, self defense, self sufficiency) and go from there, hoping for the best. My big killer down here is water - I need a well, or a way to drill / drive a sand point or I'm screwed royally. Good thing is water table is very high here - just need a shallow well of maybe 20 - 30 feet deep.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot one interesting type of people often found in small towns and rural areas. That type is the unidentified survivalist. They may not even think about that sort of stuff at all but happen to have a blue collar type job with useful skills, go hunting every year and butcher the meat themselves, have a big garden and purchase food in serious bulk.
ReplyDeleteActually that's how I became a "survivalist"...I grew up that way. Hunting, fishing, backpacking, camping, shooting, gardening, canning, baking, welding, sewing--all of the basic skills that rural people did as a matter of daily life suddenly became termed "survivalist" skills--it's basically the same thing.
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