An Earnest Plea From The Preparedness Pro

Hey you awesome Preparedness Pro readers!

Some of you have been wondering why you’re getting all of these different e-mail notifications as subscribers to the blog. Some of you, perhaps, have felt a bit inconvenienced in your reading habits with this temporary change. Or perhaps you’ve felt uncomfortably inundated with the words of someone other than what you “subscribed to.” Well, this change of pace is because of the MEGA contest that we’ve got going on right now, The Preppers Outreach Contest. We have a specific tab on this site that reads “Preppers Contest Entries” where you can go and read the various entries and vote for your favorites. But what you may not realize is really the big WHY–WHY have we put together the Preppers Outreach Contest?

How I’d Like the World to View Preparedness

You see, I’m trying to do something with this contest that I (and many of you) WISH that shows like “Doomsday Preppers” had done.  I believe they could have reached out to regular people and shown them that it’s completely rational, normal and wise to be more self-reliant. Perhaps these ventures could have encouraged a person or two to give “prepping” a try in their own lifestyle.

Unfortunately, every culture has their “drunk Uncle Harry’s” that have the potential to embarrass the rest of the family.  And unfortunately, there are plenty of such characters to go around in the society of self-reliance. So naturally, such persons are going to be highlighted on a television series. It also certainly doesn’t help that our own president is attempting to portray the term “self-reliance” as some sort of leprosy that should be avoided at all costs–that it’s some sort of punishment or horrible consequences. Additionally, it doesn’t help that even the well-meaning, relatively sane people who live a more self-reliant lifestyle are still subjected to some editing that may show them in a less than flattering manner.

That being the case, while I feel that television is still a viable media to spreading the word about self-reliance, and I think there are plenty of things that shows like “Doomsday Preppers” do right, I just wasn’t satisfied with the real impact that television is having quite yet on helping to educate people on the virtues of prepping. I want MORE people to have a CLEAR message that a self-reliant lifestyle is the ONLY one that will give them and their loved ones the foundation they will need when tough times come their way. Whether that’s an everyday nightmare of  the sudden loss of a spouse, unemployment, a financially draining medical crisis in the family, or a once in a lifetime kind of curveball thrown by Mother Nature, it will always turn out better if those who endure it can do so from a position of strength, otherwise known as self-reliance,  rather than being vulnerable and waiting for someone else to come to our rescue.

Some time ago I interviewed an amazing woman named Araksya, and wrote an article about her that I shared on here. She grew up in Armenia and was there for the horrific earthquake that struck in the dead of winter leaving thousands dead and the rest homeless with their entire lives buried under the rubble. Araksya’s family survived the earthquake only to be thrust into another hellacious set of circumstances–surviving the winter with nothing. Even worse, Armenia, at that time, did not produce anything of value for their own people and certainly not worth exporting to other nations; rather Armenia only functioned because other nations import to them–everything that they need. In fact, they grew very little food in Armenia at that time. (As God’s grace would have it, Araksya married a wonderful man who founded FoodForEveryone.org and specializes in teaching people to be self-sufficient all over the world by being able to grow crops in any soil, anywhere. Kind of neat how Heavenly Father gives those beautiful touches to our lives sometimes, isn’t it?)

My point is, more and more Americans are behaving nowadays like they live in Armenia during 1988. That in itself is a crisis waiting to happen in a country where we have so many possibilities still; in a country where brothers fought against brothers, sons against fathers, for the right to be free, to be INDEPENDENT, to not be relegated to a socialistic lifestyle. “Prepping” is not only “OK” but I, like many of you, believe it is the ONLY way that we have any hope that this country can be restored to it’s original glory. And living a self-reliant lifestyle is something that we have the privilege of doing regardless of who’s in the White House, the Senate, or the Legislature.

I believe that there are no victims, only volunteers. And I believe that there are far too many people that I care about today who don’t understand that they have the ability and freedom to make their life better, much better. They have the power to make their life fulfilling and peaceful regardless of what curveballs come their way. And I believe that that ability and control lies in the extent to which they live a self-reliant life.

So, because of this belief, I worked my bootie off (dang it, it’s come back again though *grin*) to round up vendors who actually cared about the state of self-reliance of their communities. As such, they were incredibly generous in what they were willing to give away as an enticement, and certainly as a sign of encouragement to get YOU, and lots more like YOU, to reach out to other people and share your story of self-reliance with them. Regardless of where you are in your efforts now vs. where you’d like to be. There are countless numbers of people that I KNOW would benefit from you telling your story. Whether that story is 5 pages or 5 sentences, it has the potential to speak to just the right person and perhaps make a difference in their life as a result. Yeah, I said that about YOU!  It’s a fact; and my 3 years of doing this full-time has proven that impacting peoples lives for the good IS a consequence of sharing your voice. But you know what, my voice isn’t right for everyone; but maybe YOURS is.

YOU have the ability to make a difference in someone else’s life

simply by sharing your feelings on preparedness with others.

That being the possibility, can you really put off doing so knowing that you just might make a difference in someone’s life someday when it really, really mattered?  Of course not! As preppers we LIVE and BREATHE the “what if” scenarios, right? So, what IF we could make a difference in just one person’s life? If we educate others now about preparedness, then we don’t have to worry about them later. You don’t want to ever have to turn away someone who is truly in need someday? Fine! Then get off your “excuse” and take advantage of this opportunity, please? Share your insight, your feelings, your experiences with trying to embrace a more prepared culture. It doesn’t have to be profound or worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. It just has to be YOURS.

Think You Don’t Have Time to Share Your Preparedness Story-Please Rethink That!

Yes, I know, I know. You’ve got grandkids coming to visit for the week, or you’re busy with a full-time job and going to school full-time, or you’re not feeling well. Well, ask yourself this, suppose there was a serious crisis that hit our nation tomorrow morning at 8:33 a.m. how persuasive would that excuse be then? The time for preparation is before the consequences come, right? Being prepared isn’t just about food storage, tents, and a HAM radio. It’s about helping those around you get prepared too; the more you help, the more prepared you will actually be.  “The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters”, right?

So I understand if you feel a little off kilter because you haven’t been receiving the “normal” RSS feeds in your inbox. But my hope is that not only will you find something beneficial with these entries that speaks to you, that teaches you a little something; but I hope that you may find something beneficial for others that you’d like to share with them to help them get on the board. (Remember, that doesn’t happen overnight. It takes consistent exposure, patience, and genuine effort). Certainly I hope that you will think enough of those you do care about that you’ll try your own hand at writing an entry–not because of the amazing prizes (and boy howdy, they really ARE amazing), but because there’s no such thing as a solitary person who’s prepared.

Come on, let’s show the world who’s REALLY NORMAL, shall we? Here are the contest details including the AMAZING list of prizes that are being donated for this purpose. Good luck and be sure to share, share, share. There’s no reason this shouldn’t be on every couponing site in the world wide web, or posted in every preparedness-minded forum or on your Facebook status or in your Twitter feed. After all, this isn’t about promoting Preparedness Pro– its about promoting PREPAREDNESS and that’s a language we can all agree on, right? (All entries must be in my midnight of April 16th, so hurry!)