Black Friday, it’s something that some of us look forward to, for the rest of us it’s something to avoid like the plague, the consumerism, and sometimes the insanity. I can be counted in the latter group, I suppose it’s because of too many years working in retail and malls, being on the other side of the insanity that seems to possess people after eating all of that Turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie.
Each year, after Thanksgiving, we are bombarded with tales of how some elderly (or sometimes not so elderly) grandmother who got trampled in the foyer of WalMart, she was only there to spend her few pennies that she saved all year long on her grandkids for Christmas. Sound cynical? Watch this:
Understand that these people are acting like this over toys, clothes and gadgets, basically cheap Christmas gifts. These are not needs, these are not necessities, this is not life and death, yet. Many of these people line up a day or more a head of time, and patiently (for the most part) stand in line, camping overnight in cold temps, waiting until the stores open their doors, then they race like mad people to be the first to get what ever is the new hot item this season. Sometimes the people in line get mad at each other, there was one guy who cut in line at a WalMart, the line jumper hit another customer who challenged him, that customer just happened to be licensed to carry and pulled out his gun in self defense, the line jumper ran away, fortunately that is as far as that went, but there were many other incidence of violence before the stores opened their doors.
After the doors open, then the real insanity happens, people race in, trampling each other, fall down at your own peril, there are deaths do occur as a result. Now imagine these same people facing hunger, thirst, no sanitation, no fuel for their cars, being too cold or too hot, not having electricity for their lights, TV, radios, computers and their iPods. Are we seeing a preview of what will happen when TSHTF? You can multiply the numbers of incidence we are seeing exponentially, and it will not just be one day, they will not wait patiently in line for the stores to open, they will force the doors open and they will ransack the stores and warehouses of everything they can carry. If the problem lasts long enough, the stores will be empty and then the unprepared will begin turning on each other, taking from those who have but can’t defend themselves. Rest assured there is at least 2 groups watching this and learning from it, one is our government, they are watching, learning, figuring out how to control the masses who will be fighting over food, water, fuel and such.
The other group that is learning from this are the preppers. The ones who have a supply of food, water and fuel, the ones who will not have to go out looking in desperation for the necessities of life if and when things go horribly wrong. There is a third group, the ones who are oblivious to what is coming, they either are so blind, like the cattle in the feedlots who believe they will be fed tomorrow and forever just like they were fed yesterday, not realizing what they are heading for, then there are the ones who refuse to believe anything could happen, and if it did, the government would take care of everyone (remember Katrina and Sandy!). These are the people who laugh at the preppers, calling them crazy doom and gloomers, redneck crazies, country bumpkins… they think this is all imagined scenarios that could never happen (remember Katrina and Sandy!)…
So, which group are you going to fall in? Those who are prepared or those who will go hungry? Are you going to be the ones staying home to protect their preps and families or those who will be forced to go out in the hordes of other hungry people looking for necessities? If you are reading this now, you still have time, time to prepare for what is most likely coming, time to put up some food, water and other necessities, the really great thing about doing this is if you never need it, it’s not a bad thing to have, you can pass your preps down to your kids and give them a head start on being prepared for whatever might happen, and if something bad does happen, then you will be ready for it, you will be among the wise few who are not going to get trampled or beaten up or even killed for that last can of beans and last bottle of water.
If you are ready to get started but don’t know where to start, or want more ideas to how to prep, here are the links to the entire Prepping on a budget series
Prepping on a budget – part 1 – food
Prepping on a budget – part 2 – book review
Prepping on a budget – part 3 – food storage & security
Prepping on a budget – part 4 – water
Prepping on a budget – part 5 – first aid kit
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One Response
I couldn’t agree with this more. We have to stop “consuming” and start saving for troubled times. I’m a child of Southern Louisiana and grew up evacuating or bunking down for hurricanes. It was always a way of life for us. The main roads leading into our property would flood so bad that we would have to use boats to get from one end of the flood to the other to get out for any reason. So we definitely we prepped at all times. Even later as an adult living in urban areas, I prepped and glad I did after Ike came through and left our area without electricity, gas, water, etc for almost a month. Most had to leave the area eventually just because they didn’t have enough to sustain them. Then the police wouldn’t let them back in once they left so they couldn’t get back to their homes to protect it. We stayed. It was tough especially in the heat but we had everything we needed because we were prepared. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”….. couldn’t be more true. Make a plan, get supplies and be ready….. you never know what can happen. Take it from those of us who have lived through it more than once.