Failure to prepare on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part

I just found this story which seems to paint a pretty balanced picture about what is becoming more mainstream — preparing for whatever most-likely disasters any of us might incur (Californians have earthquakes; Kansans have tornadoes; the Gulf Coast has hurricanes…not many of us escape the path of at least something major). I’m a bit dismayed — but not surprised — at some of the snide comments being made about preppers, but I’m just guessing that most of these people just haven’t yet had major occurrences in their own lives of everything hitting the fan. Here are just a few links on various disasters that left collectively millions of people unprepared — but I dare say that in a lot of cases (Hurricane Katrina comes to mind) — people made very poor decisions both before and after disaster hit. If you live in a hurricane-prone region, not having a bug-out bag is foolish. If you live in earthquake-prone areas, not having extra food and water stocked up is foolish. I saw a quote on another site that a lot of willfully unprepared people might hear from others who did prepare:

Failure to prepare on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

Notice that I referred to people who are willfully unprepared. These are the people who disdain the efforts of those of us who are trying to prepare to become self-sufficient yet who will expect us to help them when disaster strikes — and who may react violently if we refuse to help them compensate for their foolish decision not to prepare. The links below should make for some interesting reading — and I hope it will inspire a lot of you to pick up the pace with your prepping.

NATURAL DISASTERS:
** Diary of a medic after Hurricane Katrina: http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.php/topic,46497.0.html
** Tips from Katrina survivors: http://www.frfrogspad.com/disastr.htm
** More on Katrina’s aftermath: http://www.freedomforceinternational.org/freedomcontent.cfm?fuseaction=FEMA_Katrina
** Lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike: http://www.survivalblog.com/2009/10/lessons_learned_from_hurricane.html
** Lessons from the January 2009 Midwest ice storm: http://www.survivalblog.com/2009/02/letter_re_lessons_from_the_jan.html
** Lessons from another ice storm: http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/02/lessons_learned_from_an_ice_st.html and http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/02/two_letters_re_lessons_learned_1.html

AFTERMATH OF THE 2010 HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE
** http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21203781.htm (hygiene, especially in large public gatherings, will be a huge problem–plan now)
** http://www.google.com/search?&q=haiti+disaster+lessons
** http://www.survivalblog.com/cgi-bin/mt43/mt-search.cgi?search=haiti&IncludeBlogs=2&limit=1000
** http://www.google.com/search?q=preparednesspro+haiti

ECONOMIC DISASTERS (hyperinflation, etc.):
** http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/10/funding-budget-deficits-through.html
** http://www.shadowstats.com/article/hyperinflation
** Lessons from Peru on Third World living: http://www.survivalblog.com/2009/01/lessons_from_peru_on_third_wor.html
** Tips from the Argentine collapse: http://ferfal.blogspot.com/
** More on the Argentine collapse: http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/11/argentine-crisis-and-current-situation.html

EMP ATTACKS:
** http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/the-timing-of-an-emp-strike

Why should I stock up on stuff if people will just steal it anyway?

I’ve read this argument far too many times, that stocking up on food, ammo, precious metals or anything else probably isn’t worth it because people could come in and steal your stuff — so why stock up in the first place?

So let’s take this thought one step further.

If I stock up on food or anything else to help sustain me and my family in the event of a long-term economic downturn, the possibility exists that whatever I’ve stocked up on could be stolen. But I could also be mugged on my way home from work, carjacked while stopped at a red light or robbed at an ATM. So should I stop going to work, driving or using an ATM?

Or should I just wait for the government to take care of me and protect me in any and every situation?

Most Americans are well-aware of the federal and state governments’ stellar job in coordinating “relief” efforts after Hurricane Katrina. Quite to the contrary, it was an absolute disaster. Coordination among relief agencies and organizations was overlapping or nonexistent, food and other necessities were in short supply and those people who either couldn’t or wouldn’t leave the affected areas severely strained the available resources.

Oh yeah, then there’s another annoying little detail that seems to come up a lot these days: Congressional budget analysts are predicting nearly trillion-dollar deficits each year for at least the next decade. TRILLION. One thousand billion. In red ink. Every year.

And I’m thinking about trusting these bozos to take care of me when they not only can’t get stuff to the right places when the stuff needs to get there, but they’re spending themselves off a cliff at terminal velocity??

It’s like those ghastly videos around the Internet showing skydivers whose parachutes didn’t open. The fall didn’t kill them — hitting the earth at 180 miles per hour did. These people looked like the epitome of perfect health until the point of impact. But the impact ruined their day. Having a properly packed backup parachute would’ve been a good thing before it was too late.

Your food storage, water storage, precious metals and personal protection are your backup chute. YOUR food. YOUR water. YOUR PMs. YOUR personal protection.

Not the FEMA rations, trucks of potable water (if there are any) and absolutely no personal protection if you wait for the government to “take care of you.” And if you didn’t bother with the first three items, you probably didn’t buy any precious metals in the first place.
“He looks so natural!”

Depending on who the deceased is at a funeral, I’m either mildly amused or somewhat disturbed…sometimes both…to hear someone proclaim that the dearly departed “looks so natural.” We’ve seen pictures of the 50-year-old who looks 15 years younger because they’ve taken care of their body, exercised and done other things that promote good health. Then there’s the other 50-year-old who looks like he’s about 70 because he’s been chain-smoking for decades and lives on a steady diet of Mickey D’s. I wouldn’t trust the chain-smoking McConnoisseur to give me advice on how to live a healthy life. Yet too many of us implicitly trust that the government will take care of us if disaster happens. So we do nothing. And hope our parachute will open in time.

I don’t remember putting on a parachu…KERSPLAT!!

Which brings me back to my first point.

The worst-case scenario isn’t that you prepare for emergencies by stocking up on food, water, personal protection and everything else and then have people break in and steal everything — if you’re well-prepared, you’ll have your preps well-hidden and you’ll have protection to defend yourself, your family and your property. The WORST-CASE scenario is waiting on the government to help you.

So what if you prepare, only to have someone break in and steal everything?

But what if nobody breaks in? What if everything you’ve stocked up and stored for yourself and your family is well-protected and stays right where you put it?

Then you have the things you’ll need for your and your family’s well-being in the event of possibly long-term crises.

Do you have life insurance so your family will be provided for in case of your death? Do you have car insurance in case something happens to your vehicle? Do you have health insurance to help cover medical expenses in case of illness? If so, then what’s your excuse for not stocking up on food, water, personal protection and other vital necessities in the midst of economic turmoil, high unemployment, political uncertainty, natural disasters and other situations you can’t predict?

Your well-being is in your hands. Don’t wait for your terminally ill, bankrupt Uncle Sam to take care of it for you.