“I’d like 2019 for $1000, Alex.”
Unfortunately, the only remaining picks on the Jeopardy board are for 2023 and beyond.
Our choices are to prepare when no one else is preparing or to panic when everyone else is panicking. We got a clear view of the latter in spring of 2020 with people going nuts over hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, and the like. The article on the First 100 Items to Disappear was viewed over 2000 times. It might bear reviewing.
As we all have been preparing for quite some time, the urgency with which we prepare now may be diminishing. We can, perhaps, step back and consider our next moves more thoughtfully. Maybe even do a little more research.
And as we do more research, we come across “experts” who insist their way is best. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t.
Clothing
You’ll find people extolling the virtues of wool because it will keep you warm even if it gets wet. (And it’s totally true. I’ve also been amazed at how much water wool can hold and yet keep my fingers inside the mittens warm and dry.) They also like to say something like, “Cotton kills.” And if you’re wearing cotton in winter it gets wet, you are going to be at risk of hypothermia. Some people are allergic to wool and other animal fibers, so if they wish to avoid cotton they’ll have to go with more expensive synthetics. Spending more on clothing may mean having less to spend on food or ammo. Pick your poison.
Water
I’ve heard some voice concerns over the chemicals leached by disposable bottles into water, especially when those bottles are stored in car trunks in hot summer temperatures. They feel the only alternative is not to drink them. So the question becomes do you risk a small dose of whatever’s in the bottled water, or do you go with dehydration? Most recognize that the bottled water poses little threat when compared with dehydration. But if you didn’t want to pick either of those poisons, storing water in metal or glass bottles is always an option. That may entail boiling, adding bleach to the water, and/or frequent rotation of the water. Pick your poison.
Food
Then there are the debates about different food categories. Like some people don’t store much sugar because it’s not healthy. It may not be healthy, but it is (or was) a cheap source of calories and is widely used in baking—and not just sweets. It’s also cheaper than maple syrup and honey and a bit more versatile. Pick your poison.
Whole wheat is healthier and has a much longer shelf life than white flour, but if you refuse to learn to bake with it, storing it will do you no good. White flour is nowhere near as nutritious, but it’s better than having no flour at all. Pick your poison.
Then there are the folks who completely ignore the advantages of storing powdered milk even if they don’t drink it. Powdered milk is a rich source of vitamins and minerals, and it makes a complete protein when combined with wheat. Not only does it have a long shelf life, it offers all kinds of options in cream soups and casseroles and baking. And with just a couple of simple tricks, it’s easy to make powdered milk that doesn’t taste like poison.
Medicine
Even before covid doctors disagreed about which treatments were best. If doctors with all their education and experience have different opinions, we’re going to have them as well. We need to learn to disagree without being disagreeable. At the same time, people will have to learn to live with their decisions.
I can’t tell you have many times I’ve heard (or read), “I’d never take Cipro again.” Drugs aren’t without side effects, and Cipro, and really all of the -floxacin antibiotics, have some nasties. But Cipro might be all that’s standing between a loved one and death from pneumonia. If you choose not to stock it for your family, that’s your choice. But if it’s the best antibiotic to treat a life-threatening illness and you or a family member suddenly needs it, you don’t get to change your mind and demand a course of treatment from someone else. The poison of unpreparedness may ultimately prove fatal.
Vaseline—petroleum jelly—has been used for over 100 years to treat a wide variety of problems, and yet there are those who accuse Vaseline users of ignorance because they are using—gasp—a petroleum product on their bodies.
Then there are those claiming that they’ll just learn to use herbs and alternative medicine and the rest of us should do the same. There is no nature’s pharmacy for insulin or many other life-sustaining medications. Thyroid medications can be extracted from animal thyroids, but dosing will be difficult. Some people will apparently just give up. Some plan to raid pharmacies when it all collapses. Call me crazy, but it seems like it would be a lot easier to stock up on the essential medications rather than risking lead poisoning with and from others raiding the pharmacies.
Sometimes there are no good choices and we have to pick our poison. Sometimes the best choice for one person is not the best choice for someone else. If you want to be able to pick the best poison, you have to do the research to determine what is best for you and your family in your situation.
And sometimes, hopefully, because we have prepared well we will have options and won’t have to pick a poison. We can cover all the bases with clothing—hot and cold weather, rain, snow, growing children and shrinking waistlines. We can have a very well stocked medicine cabinet with life-saving antibiotics for critical diseases as well as herbs for run of the mill illnesses.
As the world descends ever deeper into wickedness and depravity, the time will come when there will be a lot of people making poor choices—panicking while everyone else is panicking. Those who choose to prepare now, while no one (or almost no one) else is preparing will be in the best position to altogether avoid having to pick a poison.
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