From Secrets of Urban Survival
Welcome to this week’s Urban Survival Newsletter, sponsored by “Tactical Firearms Training Secrets,” the critically acclaimed book by David Morris, featuring Dustin Ellermann, winner of Season 3 of History Channel’s “Top Shot,” demonstrating skills throughout. You can buy the book or the Kindleedition on Amazon.com right now!
It’s Survival Diva again with some food for thought about societal collapse; what to expect and who to look out for. It’s an important part of the puzzle when you’re one of the few prepared to survive the coming onslaught. Some guesstimate preppers make up only 5% of the populace, but it’s my belief it’s closer to 3% at best, and more likely to be 1-2%. Many give lip service to prepping and claim to be prepared when the truth is they’re still in the “thinking” stage.
They haven’t advanced to in-the-trenches preparedness that many need to do to get prepared faster, where dinners out, budget-draining vacations, and designer anything are put on the back-burner until the storage shelves are full, water has been stored, and must-have preparedness goods are crowding sheds, basements, or in a pinch; closets and under the bed.
To come out on the other side of a wide-spread crisis in one piece, even when you’re prepared, takes getting into the head of the majority of the population who are NOT prepared. If you’re successful, you’ll face, head-on, the darker side of humanity most of us would rather pretend doesn’t exist.
Yesterday I was given a small example. When purchasing another 20 buckets for food storage, a Home Depot employee kindly offered to help me load them into the back of my SUV. Looking at the 200 pounds of sugar and another 200 pounds of flour crowding the back—I’m planning to use it for barter when the time comes—he asked; “What’s with all the buckets and the baking stuff?” This was my cue to wake up another person who’ll be sorely disappointed when meals on wheels doesn’t come to their aid in a wide-spread emergency. Besides, I knew I could safely talk to him without worry of him showing up at my doorstep if things go south. I live 90 miles away and I pay with cash for my preparedness goods and NEVER use rewards cards, where my personal purchases are tracked.
So I told him I write about prepping and I practice what I preach. Our discussion revealed he had attempted to start prepping, yet every time he stored the items in the basement, his teenagers helped themselves to his emergency stash. I asked if he had a shed that could be padlocked to keep his prepping goods intact, which he did. His answer, however, was disappointing: “My wife would kill me if I put the bikes outside to store preparedness goods.”
I left the parking lot shaking my head in sadness with the realization this man represents the majority of people, including many reading this very article. They may have that gut-wrenching intuition that things aren’t quite right, and they should be getting ready, but they have become entrenched with today’s norms and are over-consumers with the belief the government will step in if things get really bad. Like this man, many would-be preppers just haven’t marshaled their strength to lock horns with loved ones, even when it’s for their own good, nor can they stomach being labeled paranoid.
Get Into The Heads of Those to Watch For
In a collapse, not all looters are created equally. There will be varying degrees of how far a person is willing to go to survive. But even the best, most honest of people will be desperate for food and water. It’s a good idea to consider who might be approaching your doorstep beforetrouble shows.
Stan, the Family Man: He has loved ones that he desperately wants to protect. He ignored the hassle of preparedness. He even ignored FEMA’s suggestion of storing three days worth of emergency food and water. Money has been tight once his hours were cut since the economic slow-down. He’d thought about selling the jet skis and investing in storage food, but it was just too depressing. Now a wide-spread emergency has decimated grocer’s shelves in a matter of hours. Water is scarce and there are rumors of many in the area getting sick after drinking non-purified water from a nearby lake. The toilet won’t flush, sewage has backed up in the tub and there is no electric. Communications are down and he and his family are without hope. The first two days, he’d held out hope that help would arrive. But it hasn’t and his family is hungry and thirsty and frightened. Stan has always paid his dues, and would normally never think about stealing from others. But, that was then. He must do whatever it takes to provide for his family. The cooking smells coming from across the hallway of his apartment building has set a plan in motion. Survival has come down to them or him…