"When Everything Falls Apart, I Know Where To Go"
For any of you that have spent any time preparing for yourself and
your family, you have probably heard this or something very similar
before from a friend or acquaintance that has learned of your
preparations. The big question is; what was your response?
In my experience I have seen that the US public carries a mentality of
entitlement around with it that surpasses that of any other country,
save the former Soviet Union. This attitude of being owed a lifestyle
has mainly been instilled by the major changes that our society has
undergone in just the last two generations. What began as a Helping
Hand to the less fortunate has morphed into an imaginary pseudo-right.
But in the words of Alexis De Tocquiville "It’s not an endlessly
expanding list of rights — the "right" to education, the "right" to
health care, the "right" to food and housing. That’s not freedom,
that’s dependency. Those aren’t rights, those are the rations of
slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle."
With the advent of the "just in time" delivery structure the last nail
was hammered into the coffin of Self Reliance. The Easy Credit and the
Instant Gratification mantras of contemporary society have bred a
population of bawling, self-indulgent brats. The whims and desires of
the masses are catered to by a very intricate structure that is by its
very nature, is very fragile at best. Innumerable people have pointed
out this Achilles Heel out many, many, times. The few who heed the
warnings are ridiculed, marginalized or demonized. It may not have
happened yet on a nationwide scale, but as our overextended and under
maintained and debt burdened national infrastructure ages and
deteriorates it most likely will. The more intricate, complex and
interconnected that the system becomes, the more prone it is to
failure or sabotage.
The US public is willingly and greedily consumed with the idea that
the government will take care of us. That they the government are the
ones that we should all be looking to for protection and support in a
time of need. It is a seductive lie and it is a mortal trap. I have
great respect for our government, but it is more concerned with its
own survival, not mine. I do not trust that it will come to my rescue
during a major disaster or act of war. Hurricane Katrina was a perfect
example of the total breakdown of that support system. It has been
more than a year since the storm and many parts of the areas that were
affected are still a disaster, still without drinkable water, without
functioning waste treatment and without electricity. The people have
placed their total faith in a belief that the local and Federal
governments would step in and save them, in many cases this was a
fatal mistake. With a disaster of that magnitude there was no way that
the state or Federal governments would have the power to do anything,
even though they wanted to. Besides, the State has no obligation to
protect people in the first place. Don’t believe me?
". . . a government and its agents are under no general duty to
provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular
individual citizen . . ." Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1
(D.C. App.181)
The above is just one of dozens of Federal court decisions that have
establish the legal principle and precedent that the State, whether it
be state or Federal, has absolutely no legal or other obligation to
its citizens.
So where does this leave those that have wisely chosen to prepare for
themselves? The answer is in a very tight spot. The mentality of
entitlement that 99% of the population carries directly translates
into the idea that they are entitled to anything that you have simply
because you chose to prepare before the crisis and they need it. This
is a problem. The question is what do you do?
Unfortunately the answers are just as difficult as the question if you
were ever to be faced with it. Turning away people in need is
offensive to our cultural traditions, but in time of crisis it can
become a necessary evil. I have actually heard a first hand story from
a friend that remembers having neighbors coming to their door during a
particularly bad snow storm demanding food from her father because
they, the neighbors, knew that the family was Mormon and abided by the
one year of food storage edict. For the neighbors, their lack of
preparedness directly translated to entitlement! Timothy 5:8 of the
Christian New Testament states "But if any provide not for his own,
and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith,
and is worse than an infidel." However, far too many "Sunday
Christians" ignore this passage and glom onto the parts about "feeding
the sheep". They profess to be "helpless" and "needy" when in truth
they are lazy and irresponsible, preferring to let others take
responsibility.
So how do you respond when you hear something similar to the phrase "I
know where I’ll be coming…"?
I can say that my standard response to that statement is pretty much
to the effect of "Not if you have nothing to contribute, and family
comes first.". By "contribute" I really mean "bring your own food and
other goods". Full Stop. We may, repeat may, be in the position to
supply a place to stay, but we are not in a position to feed, clothe
and otherwise tend to their needs. Sound harsh? It may, but so does
dieing due to their unwillingness to prepare. Notice I did not say
their inability to prepare. Those same people who choose not to be
prepared all have a bewildering array of insurance plans. The all have
spare tires in their cars. Most of them have IRA’s or Roth plans, or
401-K’s. They will prepare for the future in those ways; paying others
to take ultimate responsibility for them. What they refuse to do is
take direct personal responsibility.
The unspoken motto of the U.S. Marine Corps is: God, Corps, Country.
That’s what the Fidelis in "Semper Fidelis" refers to. Ever notice how
Corps comes before country? Ever give it any thought? My personal
motto is : God, Family, Community. Notice the resemblance?
Naturally most people when they consider such a chain of loyalty think
of it from the self centered point of view; first I’ll take care of my
own. There is another equally important side to the coin. Consider
triage. In a life and death crisis who do the doctors and nurses try
to save first? Other doctors and nurses, firemen, policemen, soldiers?
Why? Because those people posses the skills and training and proven
commitment to saving others. Saving them means that many more can be
saved. The country is more likely to be saved if the Corps is first
saved so that it can render service. The community is best saved if
the family is intact and strong and able to be a resource to others.
There are always those who simply are not able to organize their lives
in such a way as to be able to help themselves. Some of us feel we
have a duty to help the helpless in a time of need. The majority could
help themselves, but won’t. The excuses are endless. There will never
be enough resources to save those who refuse to help themselves.
And so there are many like me that pretty much keep the fact that they
are preparing for major disruptions on the quiet side, the less that
those around us know the better. This is an unfortunate but necessary
result of the entitlement mentality that the general public carries,
because the scary part is that if resources are not given freely,
those who refused to take responsibility and prepare may just try to
take it by any means necessary. A 72hr kit, such as the excellent ones
available from the Seattle Red Cross
(
http://www.redcross-oregontrail.org/miva/merchant.mv?screen=CTGY&Stor… ) are so affordable and comprehensive that even people earning minimumwages have no legitimate excuse for not having one. For those who havepurchased a 72 hr kit, it is only a stopgap. And yet how many people haveone? The Mormon Church estimates that fewer than 10% of their memberspractice the food storage program that their church preaches as a religiousduty. The simple fact is that most people have voted with their dollars andtheir actions to be cattle; to let others carry the responsibility for them.Since that is the voluntary choice that they have made and that is theeffort that they are willing to make on their own behalf, then when theypresent the fact that they have procured a 72hr kit and as theircontribution they are pretty much told that they are not welcome if a majordisruption were to occur. What they are telling me, and the world at large,is that although they recognize and admit that they have a responsibilityand a duty, they are not willing to make more than the most minimal efforton their own behalf. They are saying that they are not willing to be part ofthe solution, they are not willing to roll up their sleeves and help others,much less themselves. I can’t tell you the number of times I have talkedwith middle class professionals who have dismissed the whole idea ofpersonal preparedness with comments like "I pay my taxes!" As if having paidtaxes they had somehow purchased a service or an insurance plan that owedthem – a provider that was then obligated to come to their rescue. And thatis their attitude when a crisis happens, they become angry, resentful anddemanding of the resources that they "paid for". They assume that they havebought a "Get Out of Jail Free" card and so no longer have any personalresponsibility for themselves or to others. In the end it is a question oftriage; if I don’t know how to swim, how then can I help someone who isdrowning? If my family or I are helpless and needy, how will I be able
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