I recently saw a post about the show Doomsday Preppers (NatGeo) that ran back in the late 2000s to early 2010s and it inspired me to write a small post of encouragement for what we, as preppers, face in the world today. Doomsday Preppers was a result of the "reality" program phase coupled with people prepping after the economic depression/recession that occurred between 2006 and 2008. Many people lost their jobs, their homes, and took big financial hits from a dropping economy and, thus, took to prepping in extremes. The show hinted at the 'craziness' of prepping to that extreme and the producers pushed guests on the program toward their more shocking methods of prepping for "world changing" scenarios. Though I don't share the farthest fears of the program, such as "complete economic collapse of the United States" or "the immediate and pending eruption of the Yellowstone Super Volcano", the show did inspire me to prep for disruptive events such as ice storms, blizzards, tornados, and the like. At the time I shot for 3 days to two weeks of preps; food, water, medical supplies, communication, defense, etc (we all know the categories here).
Fast forward to today. As I reflect on just the last six months I'm forced to reconcile the fact that in my lifetime I've seen a major terrorist attack on American soil, a global pandemic, and major social disruption based on racial tensions. We have continued lingering threats, too, such as potential environmental impact from a major dust cloud system blowing in across the Atlantic from Africa, a very likely second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and additional social disruption due to an inflamed political environment which likely will be made worse come-November elections, regardless who wins, I think. Looking at all this, I side-step the frog-in-boiling-water phenomenon and think, "Shit! We're in several episodes of Doomsday Preppers!"
With that said, I find myself shockingly surprised by "preppers" who have made preparations over decades for just-such-things as what we're facing today, yet who are having seemingly life-stopping breakdowns due to the events, and I have to remind myself of one thing; no matter how much you prep if you're not ready mentally a disruption will still bring you to your knees. You can have 25 years of supplies stored in a 100% safe location and still suffer a mental collapse when faced with a riot or a 2-week isolation. To me this is one of the most amazing things I've observed over the last 4-6 months. Now I don't consider myself a fear monger, nor am I anybody who wishes ill upon another peaceful-minded human being, but the events of the last 6 months are what "we've" prepared for. I mean, this is it! To a large degree the pandemic and social disruptions, regardless of your political bent or your race or your religion, exonerate preppers. We can sit back and say, to a small measure at least, "See? We told you so. Now prep!" to members of the general pubic.
... and that transitions to my next topic; As experienced preppers we need to shift our attention to those less knowledgeable, but now more willing, to prep. I'd say most of us have seen it - new preppers popping up in forums or on Facebook and other places with the whole "I'm new to this but the pandemic makes me want to prep now..." attitude. I think this is a very good thing. The more people who have prepped for wave 2, or impacts of the November election, if there are any, the less we in the prepping community need to worry about the have-nots coming for us haves. There will be more haves.
So, to sum it all up; remember we're preppers, and the events of the last few months and those yet to come are what we are, and have been, PREPARING for. Also, be open and welcoming (not 'too' much, of course) to new preppers starting out. Acclimating more folks to prepping takes pressure off of us more experienced, and, maybe would even allow for networking opportunities as well.
Peace.
J.
Fast forward to today. As I reflect on just the last six months I'm forced to reconcile the fact that in my lifetime I've seen a major terrorist attack on American soil, a global pandemic, and major social disruption based on racial tensions. We have continued lingering threats, too, such as potential environmental impact from a major dust cloud system blowing in across the Atlantic from Africa, a very likely second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and additional social disruption due to an inflamed political environment which likely will be made worse come-November elections, regardless who wins, I think. Looking at all this, I side-step the frog-in-boiling-water phenomenon and think, "Shit! We're in several episodes of Doomsday Preppers!"
With that said, I find myself shockingly surprised by "preppers" who have made preparations over decades for just-such-things as what we're facing today, yet who are having seemingly life-stopping breakdowns due to the events, and I have to remind myself of one thing; no matter how much you prep if you're not ready mentally a disruption will still bring you to your knees. You can have 25 years of supplies stored in a 100% safe location and still suffer a mental collapse when faced with a riot or a 2-week isolation. To me this is one of the most amazing things I've observed over the last 4-6 months. Now I don't consider myself a fear monger, nor am I anybody who wishes ill upon another peaceful-minded human being, but the events of the last 6 months are what "we've" prepared for. I mean, this is it! To a large degree the pandemic and social disruptions, regardless of your political bent or your race or your religion, exonerate preppers. We can sit back and say, to a small measure at least, "See? We told you so. Now prep!" to members of the general pubic.
... and that transitions to my next topic; As experienced preppers we need to shift our attention to those less knowledgeable, but now more willing, to prep. I'd say most of us have seen it - new preppers popping up in forums or on Facebook and other places with the whole "I'm new to this but the pandemic makes me want to prep now..." attitude. I think this is a very good thing. The more people who have prepped for wave 2, or impacts of the November election, if there are any, the less we in the prepping community need to worry about the have-nots coming for us haves. There will be more haves.
So, to sum it all up; remember we're preppers, and the events of the last few months and those yet to come are what we are, and have been, PREPARING for. Also, be open and welcoming (not 'too' much, of course) to new preppers starting out. Acclimating more folks to prepping takes pressure off of us more experienced, and, maybe would even allow for networking opportunities as well.
Peace.
J.
