Thanksgiving

It’s all about to get very real.  Those who failed to prepare will be relegated to living off the land with what they can dig or trap or steal, all activities subject to high incidences of injury.  As their bodies weaken due to poor diet, even trivial wounds sustained in their quest to survive may become life-threatening.  As municipal water systems fail and what water is available becomes contaminated, even getting a drink to quench thirst evolves into a game of Russian roulette.  That’s life for the unprepared masses. 

Unfortunately, it may not be much different for many of those who “prepare” (a very small percentage of the population), because their preparation has been focused on the acquisition of goods without the accompanying practice of using those items.  Or they have failed to have plans B, C, D, and E for everything.  They only have one water filter and no knowledge or means of purifying water in any other way.  (How does one use a Life Straw or similar item to get water for cooking dinner?)  They only have a simple cook stove for meal preparation, with no means of baking bread.  Dinners are all just-add-water. 

Or they believe that shortages will be an issue for just a few months, and that everything will return to normal.  There is no going back to normal.  Normal is in the rearview mirror and it’s just been nuked.

This is why I’ve spent the past twelve years living a prepared life.  (The twenty years before that were spent just building up the preps gradually.  I’d hate to be starting just now.)  And the last three years I’ve been writing everything down for my children (all adults and some with families of their own) and anyone else who’s interested, one topic at a time, every single day.  It’s been a monumental effort, but one I’ve been grateful to have undertaken.  Writing the process down and having to describe procedures in detail makes a person learn and remember better.  I wish I had another year or so.  There’s still so much to learn.  Sadly, time does not appear to be on our side.

 

As you might have gathered, I wrote the above about four years ago, as I’ve been writing the blog for seven years now.  The first two paragraphs are still the same.  Our normal is in the rearview mirror.  The bomb’s been dropped; maybe it’s already hit the ground but we haven’t experienced the shock waves just yet. 

I am grateful for all that I’ve written and researched.  I’m grateful to all of you for your words of appreciation and encouragement, for your questions which I still hope to have time to answer, for you motivating me to do more, learn more.  I am grateful to have had four more years to learn and prepare.  I’m sorry that I didn’t have time for a truly new topic every day.  I’m sorry that I can’t remember exactly what I have written, but I am grateful to at least remember to have written about a topic and know where to find the answers.  I’m sorry this blog isn’t easier to search.  I have great hopes that this problem will be resolved with a new hosting site.

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful to God for His love and encouragement, and for having had a little more time to learn and prepare.