JJ: Survival

Predictions of the end of the world as we know it, now referred to as "TEOTWAWKI," have been around for most of my life. Life in the 1950s, when I was in grade school, was spent under the very real threat of nuclear war. Fallout shelters were the latest fashion and it was not just the Mormons that stockpiled food an other essentials.

The interest in survival has been increasing over the last ten years since Bin Laden killed America as we knew it and our tough economy and Socialistic government have a lot of people thinking more of just "Living" instead of "Living in Luxury." Survival items are highlighted at sales from Costco and Walmart and the Net is loaded with sites overflowing with discussions and advice on everything from buying gold to knapping flint.

I've always tried to be prepared for a degree of disaster and usually have a knife, compass and fire starter of some sort in my pockets, along with a cell phone. This probably seems silly until you read the accounts of survivors who have been trapped in their homes or work places by a fire or earthquake and owed their lives to having some simple tools. New Orleans and Port-Au-Prince come to mind.

I usually have a couple of days worth of food around, and camping gear and reference books squirreled away. I try to keep the gas tank on the truck close to full, and I suppose I could do a "get out of Dodge" fairly quickly if I needed to. I could get by for a day or two in case of a Katrina or man-caused calamity but I am less motivated nowadays.

Let me be honest here: I have no real desire to live in a post-apocalyptic world. I am both bone lazy and old, and a hunter/gatherer society might be exciting for a while but in the long term it is going to be grittier than I'd care to put up with.

At this point, I could live comfortably for a few days and do fairly well for a few weeks if the weather cooperated at all, but if civilization and some of its amenities didn't rumble back into life in a month or two I just as soon not bother.

TBC

"Memento mori"

(Me)