It seems that since the prepper/survival movement has become more popular in American society, there has also been a concurrent increase in stupidity with some people. I can’t tell you how many people I have heard say, or seen them post something to the effect of “I hope that we do have a breakdown of society.” Or “I’d love for there to be a real zombie apocalypse,” or some other similar nonsense.
I think a lot of the reason is that in almost every Hollywood movie, or TV show that has anything to do with a societal breakdown, apocalypse, war, or survival situation is pretty much total garbage. Hollywood romanticizes everything. The hero(s) of the story can always overcome any adversity, win every fight, dodge bullets, etc. In real life, it doesn’t work that way. Sometimes the “good guy” loses. The “heroes” get killed right along with the bad guys. We have the greatest fighting force in the world – the best training, the best technology, the best equipment. But our young heroes get sent home in boxes. Reality is nothing like Hollywood.
According to The National Law Enforcement Officers Fund – “On average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty somewhere in the United States every 53 hours. Since the first known line-of-duty death in 1791, more than 19,000 U.S. law enforcement officers have made the ultimate sacrifice.” On TV, the bad guys go to jail & the cops go home to their families. Reality is – the bad guys win sometimes.
The idea of going off into the woods with a “bug-out bag,” a survival knife, & who knows what else, & just “living off the land” seems to appeal to a lot of people. Not enough that they actually go do it, they just talk about it. The reality is if they actually tried it, most would either come back home pretty quickly, or die in the wilderness. The whole idea of “being one with nature” is pretty much just ignorance. I’m not saying you couldn’t survive like that for a while, but to live like that for an extended period of time is not realistic. Here’s a good article on the reality of “Mother Nature.” http://www.m4040.com/Survival/Mother%20Nature.htm
Mother Nature – friend or foe?
If America ever had a widespread disaster & we lost our modern conveniences, we would be worse off than many of the “third world” countries that most of the western world looks down on. Those people are used to doing without. They know what it’s like to have to work hard just to survive. Most Americans have no clue what to do without all of their modern conveniences & gadgets. If you have no electricity working within a hundred miles of you, no stores are open, nothing comes out of the tap when you turn the faucet on, you have little or no food for your family – guess what? There’s no app for that!
Don’t get me wrong. I love technology. I love modern conveniences. I’m glad I can turn on the faucet & get water that’s not going to get me sick. I like it when I flip a switch & the lights come on. I like having heat in the winter, and air conditioning in the summer. I like that if I run out of something, I can probably get it one of the many stores that are within 10 minutes of my house. Being able to get into my truck & driving somewhere sure beats the hell out of walking! But I’m also aware that any or all of those things can go away without notice, due to circumstances beyond my control.
Our society functions the way it does because of many, many different support functions that we don’t pay any attention to until they stop working. It doesn’t take a failure of all of those things at once for things to turn bad. Through natural or man-made disasters, our way of life can be dramatically changed overnight. Whether it is local, regional, or on a national scale, many of the things we take for granted could be gone without notice. Maybe only for a short time, or maybe forever. Look at what has happened to people in the wake of some of the large natural disasters in the US & abroad in the last couple of decades. How many reports of terror attacks have we seen? None of the people that were affected by any of those things probably woke up that day thinking that they were going to wind up being a victim of whatever they found themselves in the middle of.
I’m not suggesting that we live our lives in fear, always thinking that something bad is going to happen. But I don’t think that ignoring the possibility of facing some sort of disaster sometime in our lives is a responsible way to live either. I believe there is a “happy medium.” We can enjoy life and all of our modern conveniences, and still have something to fall back on if those things are taken away from us. With a little bit of planning, work, and spending a little at a time, you can be your own insurance plan for the safety of your family – in case you find yourself in a bad situation. The time to prepare for bad times is during the good times. If you wait until something happens, it’s too late. Good luck & be safe out there! ^MM
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