The lessons that the survivors learned are lessons that people throughout history have had to learn in times of war. We can learn from them and prepare ourselves and our loved ones. Or we can be like most of the rest of the country and believe that "it can't happen here." One of my favorite sayings is that "You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."
And there will be consequences. The survivors of the Balkan Wars have observations to share with us.
- In Yugoslavia, money lost value overnight. All over the world, store owners keep a pretty careful watch on the market. Historically, at the first whiff of upset, store owners stop selling food and keep it for themselves. It generally doesn't work out so well for them in the end, but what we all need to understand is that when the collapse begins here, it's already too late to go shopping.
- In the early days of the Balkan Wars, people were able to buy food in exchange for jewelry and gold. However, that did not last long. People got scared pretty quickly and felt they needed to keep the food for themselves.
- Vegetable seeds were extremely valuable, as were tools.
- As in other times of war, oil and fat were in very high demand. F. Enzio Busche also noted that in writing about his life in WWII Germany.
- Very desirable items were water containers with lids to hold water in case you had to start running.
- The three medical items of greatest value were pain killers, antibiotics, and fever reducers.
The animosity and vitriol between the
left/liberals/progressives/socialists/communists and the
right/conservatives/libertarians/capitalists or whatever you wish to
call the opposing sides is reaching a fever pitch. There is no
compromise. Relations are already terrible, and we often hear public
figures calling for the assassination of other public figures they
disagree with. We're in the midst of a trade war with China, and trade
wars often lead to shooting wars. We've been invaded, and we're forced
to feed and house the invaders. Oh, and the invaders aren't being
screened for deadly diseases. We've got unprecedented flooding and
other poor weather conditions resulting in crop failures and we're
already seeing empty shelves in grocery stores. Any one of these issues
could be serious trouble, but we've got all of them. Together. Right
now.
If there is anything that history teaches us, it
is that history always repeats. Another thing that history teaches is
that leaders always say they have learned and won't repeat the mistakes
of the past, and the people are always suckered by these promises. The
vitriol in this country between the two opposing sides leading up to the
Civil War is no different from what is going on now.
With
all the talk in our country of civil war, there's really little doubt
that it will start in the near future. The only question is, will we
have prepared well by the time it begins?
Links to related posts:
Acquiring Antibiotics
OTC Pain Relievers (and how to use them like prescription pain relievers)
Food Storage and Learning From History
Basic Food Storage--Oils
18 july 2019
