The Survival Mindset

Back in the day when people who were preparedness minded they were called “Survivalists” . They were categorized as loners, hermits or people who didn’t want anything to do with others. They were viewed as gun toting wingnuts, who would rather live alone in some cave in the mountains rather than with the "normal" folks in the city or burb. Most were thought of as people who carried weapons dressed in camo and at a moments notice would rather remove someone from the gene pool as look at them.

Now, we have changed the name to a much softer sounding word “Prepper”: A kinder and gentler way of saying survivalist and as such as our society from the rock hard pioneer days to the soft, gentler life; it has become more acceptable in the proper world of the urban and suburban culture. A world where soccer moms and dads scurry to and fro from store to store cashing in coupons and searching for the best deals on the latest designer clothes for themselves and football game to soccer game and carrying their precious cargo of kids to their important appointments. To be called a prepper, was much like being a preppie, or a “yuppie”, a somewhat acceptable and smiled at linguistic term used by the "prepper people" who see the former as fail ing to see the light of the on-coming freight train speeding down the tracks. A train where the engineers do not realize the tracks end abruptly...and not far ahead.

Lest I be accused of being a sarcastically sharp tongued rogue who is sardonic…and seriously out of step with sacred and solemn social issues….may I say humbly:

Yes, there was some sarcasm there, but, self condemnation also. When I was younger, and had a gaggle of children I spent much of my time doing exactly the same thing. To me the world would never end. There was always another day. It was my secret hidden“Easter Basket” filled with one good thing after the other. The chocolate eggs never ran out, and the little yellow marshmellowy peeps were a staple. It was a never ending the treasure chest. I too had pretty good job, and was always looking for another way to step upwards. There were always alternatives to make a few more extra bucks and go a few more places.

The months before Christmas were spent budgeting for each child’s gifts. Would five hundred dollars per child be enough…..what about the neighbors giving their children motorcycles and go carts….how would we be able to cope with that thought. I didn’t make enough money to live in that kind of style though. New clothes…..they had to be acceptable and just like everyone else’s at school or the kids wouldn’t wear them. Maybe we better increase to six hundred for each child…….all seven of them. Then what do we do for brothers and sisters, mom and dad. The best friends and neighbor gifts……Yes, we were in the middle of the “rat race”, the gerbil cage, the hamster racetrack. How many of you are on that track now?

I won’t condemn, nor make fun of anyone on that hamster racetrack because I have been there. May I say it is one of the hardest things to get off of akin to stopping smoking. Here you have friends, family and associates standing in the large and spacious building pointing their boney fingers at you. Mocking and surmising that you are an unfit parent if you are the mother and a slug if you are the father all because "YOUR" children had to go without a motorcycle for christmas. But a surprise is comming…..if you haven’t been watching the economic system crashing around your ankles and the energy price manipulation in full swing, whether you realize it or not, the end is in sight. The bearings on the hamster racetrack are about to sieze up. When you got to the market... surprise…..lettuce at a buck fifty a pound, when it used to be thirty nine cents a head. Hamburger at three bucks a pound, T-bone steaks at over nine to tweleve bucks a pound. Bread priced at three to four dollars a loaf! Egg shortages because of food poisoning and recalls nearly every week; which you find out about AFTER you have eaten it.

Ah, but you say, most canned and bottled stuff is about the same price. Nope, fooled again…..the size of the cans and bottles are shrinking or look at the bottoms of the bottles of pop….they are moving upwards every few weeks. Yeah, the hucksters don’t miss a trick. You’ll never see them lose money on anything…they just decrease the product amount, and you pay it none the wiser. Gasoline now at $4.00 a gallon, and diesel....that is a byproduct of gasoline production...costs more than premium gasoline in many cases. Ya think this could be because the trucks, trains and planes that bring the food and most everything else use diesel......ya think ??????

If you don’t believe me by now, dear Ms./Mr. Ostrich….pull your head out and look around. Things are not the same. You continue to get our fearless leader to droning, “All is well, we are in the midst of a recovery”. The corporate media cajoles you by not reporting on the real news: Depression, both mental and monetary are rampant.

When I was kid, I used to love to read the funny books, especially Superman. He always came out the victor even when the evil Lex Luther had him on the ropes with the green kryptonite. You knew he was going to find a way around it. The new funny books are now “Time”, “Newsweek”, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC news. The sad thing is Superman is not going to get out of this one this time around. OPEN YOUR EYES. As an old college roommate used to say……”pull your head out!” He never said out of where so I guess YOU have to decide out of what or where it's at or in.

Time for a Paradigms Shift

If you haven’t already done these things get them done NOW:

• Store at least five hundred gallons of water and more if you have a large family
• Harden you house to intruders by installing new locks and bolts on the doors
• Change all of you exterior doors to solid wood of steel, and use solid hinges
• Get at least 3 months of food that your family will eat, then extend it to one year
• Get a sufficient amount of food that does not require cooking
• Store up winter clothing and shoes in larger sizes for the children: You may have to move northward and into the mountains
• Provide light/heat/solar/storage battery sources
• Purchase blackout plastic for the windows to use at night
• Purchase sheets of ¾ in plywood to protect windows
• Purchase heat sources that can be used INSIDE the home, or learn how to vent them to the outside
• Purchase communications equipment HAM Radio, and learn how to use it
• Learn how to protect yourself and your family….I don’t tell you how, but learn it
• Store a small to moderate amount of silver for barter (not investment, survival)
• Purchase items that you can use for barter, LIKE FOOD
• Learn how to “bug in” or “bug out” and if and when to do it
• Make some like minded friends and neighbors
• Involve your family in EVERY aspect of your preparations
• Encourage family members NOT to discuss the family preparations with friends
• Learn how to plant and grow a garden
• Find a retreat area beyond one hundred and eighty miles that your family can get to, and plan for the fuel/preparations necessary
• Make friends in your retreat area
• Design a BOV and make a number of plans and routes to get to your retreat
• …………..

The list is daunting, and goes on and on. But the gist is….simply

Get some WATER
Get some FOOD
Get some HEAT SOURCES or protection like a TENT and WOOD STOVE

If you don’t do it now, it won’t be available or you won’t be able to afford it…I CAN ASSURE YOU OF THAT!

And guess what?........I ain’t selling anything….I just want you, your family and your neighborhood prepared so you don’t come over to my house and beg for my food, cause my food is for my family….and besides all of my stuff got destroyed in a boat accident and sunk to the bottom of Fish Lake anyway…..well anyway, preppers will get a smle out of that last statement!


ATTITUDES

Now for the gist of all of this: If you have prepared with the STUFF, and don’t have a survival attitude, you will most certainly fail, and thus and your family will die, or at least become very uncomfortable. Your attitudes above all, is what is going to keep you alive.

One of my mentors, whose friendship I cherish used to say….” In order to survive, you’ve got to be tougher than Woodpecker Lips”. Yes it is indeed true. Survival is not for the faint of heart. You must be willing to eat things that you have never imagined like locust, grubs, ants, grasshoppers, worms…..and the list goes on and on. It’s not that you WILL have to eat them…but you must be able and willing to eat them if your life depends on it. And more importantly, you have to train your children to do the same.

• Butcher a steer? YES
• Kill a chicken and clean it? YES
• Kill a bunny and clean it? YES
• Kill a cat….(which I hear tastes like chicken!) and eat it? YES
• Kill a rat……and eat it…….YES…I don’t know if even I can do that!
• Shoot a weapon……at another person…..??????? Unfortunately, YES if the conditions warrant it for your families safety.
• Make a lean-too and live in it? YES
• A snow cave? YES
• Catch and clean a “slimy” fish and eat it RAW? YES
• Use maggots to clean out a gangrene limb? YES

Well enough gross stuff. You may not have to all of those things, but you have to have the mindset, that nothing except dare I say cannibalism is off limits. That is taboo, and is the ultimate taboo in my book. Unfortunately, it is not out of bound for many people in our society if it comes to that point.

How do you prepare yourself for these things? It is only by experience, using the guidance of a mentor/teacher who has had training and experience in these practices that one learns. I have a good friend and associate who trains his Boy Scout Troop each summer on overnight camps how to eat grubs found under dead trees. It is through practice and perseverance that one learns these traits.

Start by teaching the family, including the little kids to fast for 2 meals for one day a month, and then two days a month on different weeks. Use your heads though, regarding medical conditions like Diabetes and other conditions which may make it dangerous to do this. It teaches one to not be at the mercy of one’s body’s wants.

Learn to eat to live, and not live to eat. Begin to change your diet to whole grains and fresh vegetables. Learn how to grind your own wheat, and make your own bread. Find recipes that utilize your storage food, and then replace the food that you use. Cut back on sugar, and use honey and molasses. Start using beans and find our how to make them compatible with the children and your own constitution. Use some powdered milk, so that the kids will drink it when the time comes. Yes, you can get some, what we in our society consider “YUCKY” things from specialty markets such as oriental/east Indian markets that are considered delicacies in their society that would turn our stomachs. Use these sometimes so that what one may consider ‘yucky’ is found not to be so ‘yucky’.

Finally, the most important thing that researchers have found is that people are much more likely to survive when they believe in a “Higher Power”. Whatever that may be to you, believe in it. For me it is a loving Heavenly Father, who has sent me to this existence to learn things that I could have never learned any other way….through experience. To me, when, not if, but when I die, I return directly to his loving and open arms; to receive me with a kiss on the cheek and a “well done my son” if I have lived a life of service and love, and truly did my best to follow what I consider to be his commandments and rules.

You may have your own thoughts on that, and that is your privilege. But find something within the infinite that you can believe in, greater than yourself or any mortal being. This is the best way to survive ANYTHING. Then if the chips fall against you, you leave knowing that the other side is not that bad, in fact a wonderful and loving place. It makes the transition considerably easier.

We intend to help you with all of the above, if you will let us. There is still time. Things are definately more expensive and less available and will become more so. So, please let us help you and your family get ready.