03Lightningrocks wrote:jmra wrote:03Lightningrocks wrote:It is a whole lot like thinking a meteor is gonna hit us. There have been folks screaming about the end of the world since the Black Plague. Somehow... It just never ends. To each his own. I live my life free from worry about "the end of society".
ill be darned if I pack a gas mask and a box of bullets in a bag and delude myself into thinking I am preparing for the end of times. Lord have mercy! What kind of way is that to live my life?
Besides... Why should I get a bug out bag. If things really got that crazy, I can just walk up, pull a gun out, shoot a bug out bag holder and take his stuff... Lol. J/k
This is an open forum so try not to be offended if some of us post a different opinion than your own. If you are really that sure of your beliefs, my little old opinion shouldn't be a threat to anyone.
I don't think differing opinions are a problem. I do think belittling and berating comments are. Obviously most of the people posting on this thread are like minded. You obviously are not. So, why not just skip the thread and move on to something that you are passionate about where you actually contribute something constructive to the conversation.
I agree. It works both ways. Not always around here. Something is seriously wrong if the guy who says he thinks believing you need a survival kit for the end of civilization is cute becomes a threat. I will leave it at this point.
I don't think it's the disagreement that is the issue. People are always free to do that, and there should always be a freedom to give and take. The issue rather is the dismissive tone regarding something that another person takes seriously. It's unnecessary. Imagine the following two brief conversations:
First...
Person A: "I've put together a bugout bag."
Person B: "Hmm... I don't really see the need for it myself. Here's why...."
Next...
Person A: "I've put together a bugout bag."
Person B: "OMG, you're just too cute!"
Person B disagrees with Person A's premise in both conversations, but in the first one he disagrees respectfully, while in the second one he makes fun of Person A and is disrespectfully dismissive.
The treatment we give others is the treatment we invite on ourselves.
As I previously stated, preparedness is not my sole obsession. I'm trying to run a business. I have a MORE than busy faith life. I mentor young people, etc., etc., etc. All of these things are also passions of mine. Preparedness is only one small part of the puzzle that is TAM. And having lived in California, the idea of preparedness is perfectly natural. We always had a "Earthquake Kit" in our home. We raised our son to think this way. In California, big earthquakes are as real of a possibility as tornados are in Texas.....maybe even more of a possibility since a large earthquake will devastate a large region and even change the topography. It makes perfect sense to have a cache of temporary necessities against the possibility that a natural disaster has demolished your home: food, water, prescriptions if you're on regular meds, first aid, simple shelter, etc., etc. I lived for years with a small, but very real threat that this could happen. When the Northridge earthquake happened, one of my friends was living on the 2nd floor of an apartment building which news channels kept showing on the air because it pancaked.........with her inside of it. When she was rudely awakened by the quake, her formerly 2nd floor apartment was at ground level, she jumped out her window and ran off, not knowing where to go or what to do, and everything she owned was completely demolished.
This stuff is not fantasy. It's real. I'm sure my friend in Northridge never imagined that her experience could ever happen to her. I'm not saying that you have to live in daily fear of the small chance that something like this could happen to you, but Aesop's Fables exist for a reason, and the tale of the ant and the grasshopper is as timeless as the human race. If you do not put together a disaster relief plan for your own family, you could reasonably be called foolish according to a timeless standard of wisdom. Call it a Tornado Kit or a bugout bag.....whatever floats your boat. If you're not nailing down this detail on behalf of your loved ones, then they deserve better.
And then once it is handled, you don't obsess,
because you've handled it!
You can choose to play the role of the grasshopper if you want..........and you might even get away with it for your entire life. But have enough sense to not make fun of the ant, because
he might not be feeling particularly charitable if the "flag goes up," as Jeff Cooper was fond of calling it.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT
Just don't come knocking at the door of my shelter when you have no toilet paper in your BOB, lolol.