As we work to prepare for what might come, it’s important to understand the threats we might face in a real SHTF situation. Whether it’s a storm, flood, wild fire or economic collapse; desperate people will do things that they would never dream of doing under normal conditions. We’ve seen looting break out immediately after a disaster by opportunists, however, this is a minor issue compared to what may happen when services are cut off for an extended period of time. Those nice people down the street may become your biggest threat after 3 days without food and water.
The economic collapse in Venezuela led to people eating the zoo animals, think about that for a moment. You may recall the story of the Donner Party who after eating their dogs resorted to cannibalism to survive. There are reports of cannibalism during the Russian famine of the early 20’s and the North Korean famine during the 90’s. Desperate people do desperate things.
People today have it very soft compared with previous generations; non-stop streaming entertainment, social media, smart phones, fast food, 24 hour access to absolutely everything with little to no effort; our society has lost even the most basic survival skills. When I was growing up, every family in the neighborhood had a garden and many would journey to local farms to harvest and can fresh vegetables. Kids joined scouts to camp and learn outdoor skills, they played sports, they played outside; they didn’t sit inside all day bleary eyed staring at a computer screen and complaining about ‘social justice.’ Today’s generation can’t go 3 minutes without checking their phone, much less a month without internet. Now imagine how desperate your neighbors would become when the store shelves have been empty for a week.
OK, so what’s the point? The point is simple: if you have food and water and they don’t, they will try to take it from you. At first they might just ask, after a day or so they will steal, after a week they will kill, and eventually they just might eat you. Are you prepared for the absolute desperation of people who are literally starving to death? Are you prepared to fight back with deadly force if necessary? They say that the only thing separating civil society from chaos is a full belly. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Who have you told about your stash of food and water?
- How long will your preps realistically sustain you?
- Have you decided to share your preps with others and if so who?
- Do you have a backup cache or alternate location in case you are forced to run?
- Can you effectively defend your location and for how long?
These are just a few of the questions you need to address in order to truly be prepared. True preparedness isn’t just a hobby or having cool survival gear; it’s serious business if you actually hope to survive a real SHTF event. Now, get busy!
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Prepper 365 