Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Better ten years too early than ten minutes too late

Daisy Luther at the Organic Prepper had an interesting post up recently: "FEMA director urges Americans to develop 'a true culture of preparedness' but no one is listening."

Okay, here's the first thing that sprang to mind even before reading the article: For years now, preppers have been dismissed as tinfoil-hat-wearing nutjobs. The indoctrination has been so deep that no one even thinks about preparedness until hours before a hurricane hits.


But apparently FEMA’s new director, Brock Long, is trying to change that. He has repeatedly said Americans do not have a “culture of preparedness.” Considering the poor guy has only been the FEMA director since June 20, he’s had to deal with a historic number of natural disasters during that short amount of time. I don’t blame him for trying to ramp up individual preparedness efforts.

But he’s fighting an uphill battle. Daisy writes, “It appears that Mr. Long has a mindset of self-reliance based on a couple of recent statements he has made to the media, but the MSM doesn’t seem too interested in his ideas about fostering a culture of preparedness, despite the practicality and essential nature of his suggestions.”


You see, for decades people have been assured the government will help them. They’ve been told not to bother their silly little heads about something as big and complicated as storing some food, water, and other basic needs. But Mr. Long is correct: without individual preparedness, government assistance can only, by definition, go so far.

Part of the problem is people think of preparedness as an all-or-nothing scenario. Either the world will end and zombies will roam the land – or nothing will happen (since, after all, it can’t happen to me).


But that’s not what preparedness is all about. Smart preppers prepare for the most likely scenarios first. And what kinds of emergencies are people are most likely to face? Job loss/ unemployment. Illness. Bad storms. Adult children who need a brief hand. Neighbors temporarily down on their luck. The list is endless, and not one of them involves the end of the world or roving zombies. As Lisa Bedford (the Survival Mom) notes, “Small disasters are far more common. They may only affect a family at a time.”

In the face of the natural disasters our nation has faced these last few months, it’s my humble opinion that people are foolish NOT to be preppers, at least to some degree. Lisa Bedford lived through Hurricane Harvey. She can attest to the truth of this.

As Daisy puts it, “A culture of preparedness is indeed the answer, and preppers have known this for a very long time.” It's nice to see at least one government official agree -- and vindicate our efforts.

11 comments:

  1. Such has always been the case. Look at Aesop's ant and grasshopper.

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    1. Gorges is exactly right.

      I finally gave up trying to help the grasshoppers. Now my focus is on helping those who ARE taking action to provide for and protect their love ones.

      Brandon Smith was right. The vast majority of Americans are too self-absorbed in frivolous pursuits to accept reality. Their country is falling around them while they are consumed with texting, cell phones, selfies, sports, recreation, leisure, entertainment, TV, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pokemon GO etc. Yea, it's fun. And it's a lot easier than preparing to protect their love ones. Their suffering will be Biblical...

      Montana Guy

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  2. Post Alley CrackpotOctober 4, 2017 at 6:05 PM

    "Either the world will end and zombies will roam the land – or nothing will happen (since, after all, it can’t happen to me)."

    I'm looking forward to our new zombie diversity.

    Why can't we all just get along? :-)

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  3. One of the Lutheran churches in the Houston area, in a ritzy suburb part, is still distributing food to over 300 people daily. Some days the number of folks have reached 600. These people have been hit really hard and now have nothing! Even if they had food storage, the flood would have destroyed a significant amount. Now they have a mortgage and rent and maybe another car payment.

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  4. Preparedness isn't only about disaster or "TEOTWAWKI." Preparedness is about having that canned spaghetti sauce when the cook realizes the jar of Ragu he/she thought was in the pantry isn't there. Preparedness is about not having to worry if the water company suddenly shuts off service because the main ruptured down the road. Preparedness is about your refrigerator humming along whilst a power outage renders everyone else's useless. It's about being ready... for anything...

    People these days think preppers are crazy. A hundred years (or less) back, people would have thought that those who live the way "modern society" do were crazy.

    I've been told that I'm like a stopped clock; right only twice a day. I'd rather be right twice a day than wrong 24/7... And I need only be right once...

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  5. Where we live, Irma made some wind...not terrible....but had she gone more west, we probably would've lost power. Our church was going to open its doors as a shelter for our little community, if needed. I talked to the pastor and his wife and offered to cook some food for anyone staying there, as we have a gas stove...that works without electricity. I also offered to bring over coffee, as needed. I went home from church on that sunday, and I started cooking chicken breasts and softening a pot of pintos, and began making 2 soup pots of brunswick stew. It's hearty, nutritious, and we had all the ingredients on hand....because I was prepared.

    It ended up that we kept our power, and the soup/coffee/etc was not needed. So I used containers and froze the extra stew....and we had dinners and lunches for later, as needed. I wasn't out anything but time and energy, and I was glad to be READY IF food was needed. (I was told the church's food preps were peanut butter and bread and chips. Oh yum. /sarc/ How nutritious.)

    Our area receives storms from hurricanes and tons of tornados during the spring....so we've gotten gas stoves in the homesw, so we can cook and have coffee, no matter if we have power or not. I feel nutritious food and caffeine would be extremely helpful in a hard time....providing our little house isn't destroyed by any storms. :)

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  6. Where we live, Irma made some wind...not terrible....but had she gone more west, we probably would've lost power. Our church was going to open its doors as a shelter for our little community, if needed. I talked to the pastor and his wife and offered to cook some food for anyone staying there, as we have a gas stove...that works without electricity. I also offered to bring over coffee, as needed. I went home from church on that sunday, and I started cooking chicken breasts and softening a pot of pintos, and began making 2 soup pots of brunswick stew. It's hearty, nutritious, and we had all the ingredients on hand....because I was prepared.

    It ended up that we kept our power, and the soup/coffee/etc was not needed. So I used containers and froze the extra stew....and we had dinners and lunches for later, as needed. I wasn't out anything but time and energy, and I was glad to be READY IF food was needed. (I was told the church's food preps were peanut butter and bread and chips. Oh yum. /sarc/ How nutritious.)

    Our area receives storms from hurricanes and tons of tornados during the spring....so we've gotten gas stoves in the homes we've lived in, so we can cook and have coffee, no matter if we have power or not. I feel nutritious food and caffeine would be extremely helpful in a hard time....providing our little house isn't destroyed by any storms. :)

    Also, for several years I was chronically sick. Having extra in the pantry meant that I could go longer without NEEDING to grocery shop....since some days I could get out of bed only to make it to the couch. Meals were available for me to cook for my family (or for dh to cook for us). In fact yesterday, with just a small cold and feverish and feeling yuck, I grabbed a bad of dried tortellini I bought a few yrs ago and a can of spaghetti sauce from 4+ yrs ago, and made a quick meal. Wasn't the best of meals....dh would prefer meat and not having so many carbs....but it was better than nothing, lol. And it took maybe 20 min, and that was mainly the water coming to a boil and the pasta cooking. Another meal for tonight is a breakfast casserole. I had bfast sausage in the freezer, along with hamburger rolls (we're out of bread and getting to the store hasn't happened this week), and because we bought 4 baby pullets in march....they are laying like MAD right now (while our older girls are laying a bit less), so we have an ABUNDANCE of eggs at the moment. So this casserole will be dinner, along with some fruit (bought in bulk last week....20# of pears, 20# of peaches). I prefer to make meals with more veggies....but again, I'm under the weather and am choosing meals that are easy and use less energy to make. We'll eat the fresh produce on hand, and enjoy a hearty egg and sausage meal. :)

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  7. I'm concerned...a politician with some sense. The end must be near. :)

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  8. I've still got a month or so before my own chickens lay eggs. The neighbor's hens keep wandering over onto our property. One made a nest in our flowerbox, but she's laid an egg in the flowerbox every day for the last 5 days. We'll make breakfast this weekend from those eggs.

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  9. Our preps got us through a rough time when I lost my job. Rebuilding them has been a bit rough, as the only job I was able to get was minimum wage. I am not complaining, but I made considerably more in my prior occupation. But we have learned a lot, made needed adjustments. We aren't anywhere near as well prepared as before, but working to build back up. The skills and knowledge gained in the meantime are invaluable. It's interesting that this new FEMA guy wants to push a 'preparedness' mindset, but I feel ppl will ignore him, considering the crowd he is trying to reach. Reinstitute the Civil Defense program, and bring back Victory Gardens and so on...encourage ppl to invest the time and energy somehow....

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