It’s NOW, not When

I frequently hear people say something like “Well, when everything goes South, it won’t matter if we have paid our mortgage.  “When the earthquakes and the tempests take place, it won’t make any different whether I have water or not. Or “When the EMP hits, it won’t matter if I have a concealed carry permit.” To be quite frank, this kind of thinking is flawed. Our need for preparedness is not due to a single, massive, chaotic event.  While I don’t dismiss a belief that there will be such an event, I firmly believe that we will be wise to properly anticipate the series of events which may seem quite devastating at first blush, but unfortunately, as foreign or perhaps unfathomable as they may seem, they qualify for key aspects of preparedness to be deployed right now. Whether it’s the Second Coming, the end of the world as we know it, or World War III, we will benefit significantly more from our preparedness efforts if we put the most likely of events into their proper perspective and most likely prioritization.  And even if we find ourselves surrounded by a rough situation for which we wished we had already prepared, it doesn’t negate any cause we may have to still do better with the next round of great trials, and the next.  You see, preparedness is so much more than “preparing for the big one.”  It’s about being able to endure the speed bumps, the hills, the mountains, and any other analogues fluff-words I can come up with NOW before any grand finale takes place.

Allow me to share a couple of obvious trials that we are in the midst of presently in hopes that we all may take notice that the time to be prepared for what we’re living through right now has actually come and gone. What we’re seeing paraded through the news headlines are simply the consequences of an unprepared people and a people who as a whole placed no value in being independent and self-reliant.  As such, when fallible men make foolish or conniving decisions, it’s not a matter of IF we will be affected, but how intensely we will be.  That intensity of the “refiner’s fire” is solely contingent upon our preparedness efforts today.

While there will surely be more trying times, we can’t give up on our preparedness efforts simply because we are handling this crisis “just fine.”  We still can focus and really prepare for what comes next, and then the next, and the next challenge.

For starters, is there anyone who does not have reason to be concerned with the Federal Reserve’s latest news that they will purchase AT LEAST $600 billion to $1 trillion worth of federal debt notes?  Folks, this is the debt that we normally sell to foreign nations because one should never pee where they sleep. But since we are soooo far behind in the amount of debt that our government needs to sell in order to simply stay afloat, we’re asking the Federal Reserve to print more money to purchase this debt.  Just to give you a picture that can help you understand the significance of this, the Federal Reserve purchasing U.S. debt to help the U.S. government stay afloat is significant—it’s like borrowing money from the Mafia in order to pay the Mafia what you owe them in interest this week. Even more important is that the whole world knows that the U.S. government is cornered into going to the Federal Reserve.  This is like Jimmy Stewart’s character in “It’s a Wonderful Life” going to the greedy, conniving Mr. Potter to borrow money.  Mr. Potter has him right where he wants him.  So, tell me this…what part of this scenario does not scream and holler “Hello—we better get ourselves out of being so dependent on our credit card debt, home equity line, and other ridiculous debt just to survive because the dollar which pays for those debts isn’t going to stay sufficiently valuable for much longer”?  Yup. The writing is definitely on the wall that the time for preparedness in this principle of preparedness is fast approaching.

Another example, have we not yet recognized the litany of evidence that violent crime has risen over the last 5 years in nearly every single county in the United States of America?  Does MS-13 still not mean anything to anyone? Does that mean we still wait naively until “the big one” to take action to try and physically defend ourselves?  No!

So yes,  those naysayers are right…while the world is in turmoil “shaking to and fro” it won’t matter whether or not we have a concealed carry permit, but it sure as heck may make a difference to someone in the next 5 seconds who’s the unnecessary victim of a violent crime.

OK. So forget the concealed carry permit for a moment. How about just locking the blasted doors to your home when you come and go?  You may have some cute and quaint little reason why you leave your home unlocked, but I assure you that that reason won’t get you very far when YOU are known by your neighbors to have purposefully invited crime into their homes too because you thought you were the exception to the need for an “ounce of prevention.”

Next, many companies have come right out and said that they will be raising food prices dramatically as of “immediately.”  Do we have any reason to not believe them?  It cost $2.49 for four pieces of something that McDonald’s dares to call “chicken nuggets.” Do we have any reason to believe that in spite of the tales of horrendous weather, famines, wet season, and other inclement weather that’s abundantly available on the internet and news stations, that for some reason we still have reason to believe there will be a bumper crop this harvest?  Really?  Here’s another tip for you in this regard. The DAY after Five Star Preparedness closed out their special sprouting group buy deal last month, the prices of almost every single one of their sprouts were hiked up by the manufacturer by 40-60%!!!  The hike was so substantial that the wholesaler sent out a somewhat apologetic message to all of their distributors, blaming the rise in prices on the harvests from all over the nation and parts of the world.  So doesn’t this particular reality demand our attention and our wisdom in storing up food and water and other necessities while they are still available with our currency?  Doesn’t this scenario make couponing as well as learning to prepare meals with what you have on hand seem a bit more practical? I sure hope so. Because your mealtimes are about to get a bit more stressful, and I’m not saying that just because Junior decides to stuff an entire plate of spaghetti in his face.

We’re already being hit head on with a tough employment situation that is clearly affecting more than the 10% unemployment number we’re being fed by the “talking heads.” In fact, two weeks ago, “60 Minutes” featured just one town in Iowa which was experiencing a jaw dropping 26% unemployment.  The week prior to this episode, the same news show reported how an astounding number of doctorate and master degree holders were going on two-plus years of unemployment regardless of how low they set their sights for employment. My point in making these statements is that nearly 25% of our entire nation is already in a position of earth shattering need– 25%! For the most part, these people never envisioned this kind of instability in their lives, this much need, nor this such significant level of humility.  Preparedness, or rather independence for these people, as well as ourselves, is demanded of a quarter of our nation—at the very least—right now, not “when the big one hits.”  Seriously, do we have to wait until we see nothing but broth in our bowls before we will awake to our realistic circumstances?

My point is, there is plenty of evidence for several plausible scenarios which are so close to transpiring and there are certainly plenty of troublesome scenarios which plague us presently.  Don’t you think it’s time we started living in the “NOW” and not the “when” when it comes to our preparedness efforts?  Perhaps it’s because we’re actually living in it right now that makes us so myopic and unable to see conditions around us as they really are. Perhaps it our emotional defense mechanisms which shut out the possibility of tougher times ahead.  I personally have known several friends who don’t want me to mention anything that has to do with the realities of the need for forward thinking and preparedness.  The saddest thing I can hear though is these same persons are actually trying to live through a devastating Life Event for which they were woefully unprepared.

I will leave you with one last story. A friend of mine relayed this story in which she was attending a preparedness class. She had cause to make some comments that were to benefit the group and in doing so apparently caught the attention of one of her fellow churchgoers.  After the meeting he came up to her and complimented her on her contribution to the meeting and proceeded to ask her if he could see her food storage, ostensibly to get some ideas for his own. The woman wisely but kindly told him “No. I don’t show that to anyone.”  At this response the man immediately became verbally abusive with her and quite hostile, even going so far as to threaten her with some social shame.

Now when I hear that story, my thought is this: Here’s a man who will turn on a dime and become ugly when times are relatively good. Imagine what kind of ugliness awaits us when things get a bit tougher?  We have much to be prepared for…fortunately we have much to be grateful for as well and we still have some time to get busy and focused in truly providing for ourselves and our family in tough times ahead.