If the crap hit the fan, would YOU help others or only YOURSELF/family?

a reply to: shinethelight

Yes you should help people. One of your biggest assets is people. People all have different skill sets and can be helpful. We survive as community not individuals..

Many tribal people send people away from the tribe to die....

I have been preparing for such an event since the Carter Administration. Let me begin by saying that I'm not a prepper in the general sense. I believe in being self sufficient because I was raised on a family farm where you couldn't afford to depend on anyone else but family.

Let me describe what I've done in the last 35 years. A 1000 gallon tank was installed for vehicle fuel. All heating of the house and outbuildings are heated from natural gas vented from a leased oil well on my property. There's a 5 KW natural gas auxiliary generator with propane backup for when the rural electric company fails.

Several years ago, I tried to install solar panels but it was a big fiasco and now resides in a stall in the barn. It was my intent to use them to light my property without having to pay for it.

Food is not a problem due to the fact my cousins do canning which provides food most of the year anyway. I did buy some freeze dried food, last year, that is enough for 10 people for 6 months. This may sound excessive but most of the farms in the area have done similar things.

The major flaw in my plan is that my main domicile is 140 miles away from my farm. I was planning to fly there but I can't fly any longer due to back injury.

The OP asks, if I would help others in a crisis? My answer is YES but not until my family is cared for.

I would keep my daughter and I clear of your neighborhood, regardless of the shape of society.

Do that, do just that.

Anyone who has ever had a successful marine fish aquarium, believe it or not you already have a basic understanding of how to filter and clean dirty water to make it at least moderately safe for drinking, even if it tastes like #. I was never spoiled by bottled water anyways and have always drank the safe municipal tap water all my life. Only suckers buy bottled water.

The number 1 resource in the world, has been, is now, and always will be water. Without it, your dead in days. Your body can feed off itself for weeks without food, but without water its over. For the overwhelming majority who have not prepared in the least bit, the least they can do is learn a rudimentary process and principal for filtering water in the wild.

Sand, cloth, porous rock. Learn it now, while those who can teach still have the opportunity.

a reply to: AmericanRealist

Not spending less than $30 on a water filter is insanity.

www.amazon.com...

A sawyer will filter a million gallons. Just don't let it freeze if wet.

a reply to: infolurker
Absolutely recommended , but we could literally hand them out or give them money to get just that, and most people would still lose, break, or outright get rid of them from lack of patience and ignorance. Everyone cannot be saved, even if we give them everything they need.

a reply to: AmericanRealist

True.

90% of people are so stupid that they cannot even feed themselves for 2 weeks.

Dried pinto beans are $1 for 2 pounds at dollar tree. A 50 pound bag of rice is less than $20.

For a couple of hundred bucks, a person could feed their family for months. But instead, they NEED that big screen TV.


Will I share, yes, with my family and trusted associates. You cannot support the mobs of senseless idiots or you will be joining them quickly.

a reply to: infolurker

Will I share, yes, with my family and trusted associates. You cannot support the mobs of senseless idiots or you will be joining them quickly.

Wait.
Hold up there......

We have over a hundred gallons of water here - we have dried beans, rice, canned goods........
and we are Progressives.
Oh, also - we have the means to establish a "perimeter" and enforce it. We have access to fresh water, wilderness, etc.


I'm not going into it in depth.....just realize that not all pacifists are senseless idiots. Nor are they unaware that the government is very possibly not to be trusted.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs Just realize that for every one prepared individual , there will be thousands, tens of thousands of dependent, hungry, ignorant and opportunistic individuals ready to take what they feel they need or are entitled too with no regard to circumstance or consequence.

originally posted by: AmericanRealist
a reply to: BuzzyWigs Just realize that for every one prepared individual , there will be thousands, tens of thousands of dependent, hungry, ignorant and opportunistic individuals ready to take what they feel they need or are entitled too with no regard to circumstance or consequence.

As that great Jewish socialist (not Bernie Sanders, the other great Jewish socialist) said: "For all who draw the sword will die by the sword".

My humanity is what makes life worth living. If I lost that, life wouldn't be worth anything to me. Your route of survival would mean a spiritual death for me. Nothing is worth that.

originally posted by: AmericanRealist
a reply to: BuzzyWigs Just realize that for every one prepared individual , there will be thousands, tens of thousands of dependent, hungry, ignorant and opportunistic individuals ready to take what they feel they need or are entitled too with no regard to circumstance or consequence.

Correct.

Stupidity in times of plenty has no socioeconomic or political affiliations. Only 1 out of 100 people would be able to feed themselves for a year and that is what they have chosen. The faith in "just in time" supply chain must be really strong with most of the population.

a reply to: Abysha
To each their own. Nearly everybody that responds to this thread is located in separate cities, states, and whole countries. So sadly most of us will be unable to even have the opportunity to help each other regardless of want or desire. But we can share survival tactics in the meantime.

My buggout area is nicely desolate with abundant wildlife and water. There wont be any "desperate " city folk out there. They wouldnt last a week.

That said. Get the heck out of town. They will become deathtraps very quickly.

This would only work if you dont mind ending up with cannibalisms.
and others would attack big groups.

Stay small and well hiden.
if the government troops dont take it from you.
then others will.

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: infolurker

Will I share, yes, with my family and trusted associates. You cannot support the mobs of senseless idiots or you will be joining them quickly.

Wait.
Hold up there......

We have over a hundred gallons of water here - we have dried beans, rice, canned goods........
and we are Progressives.
Oh, also - we have the means to establish a "perimeter" and enforce it. We have access to fresh water, wilderness, etc.


I'm not going into it in depth.....just realize that not all pacifists are senseless idiots. Nor are they unaware that the government is very possibly not to be trusted.

You have enough food, water, weapons and ammo to get you through until the ship is righted.

You even have a plan to carry on if the ship sinks.

But while you stand guard over your lifeblood, you fall asleep at the wheel.
The game is over.
Sleep is still in that barely understood area of science that has people in lab coats torturing rats and then shaking their heads at the results. We need it. Without sleep, our health is in ruin.
Part of your preparation has to include a sleep plan.
Sleep will come for you. Let it happen when it will do no harm. Let it come while somebody else has the watch

My friends are people I trust as much as my family they would definitely get my assistance...

Also my heart isnt so cold I wouldnt help those I could, I have to be able to sleep at night... now if it was down to those I already have with me or helping people I dont know... then my family/extended family get my help.

Now, don’t go trying this at home, but after you’ve gone more than 24 hours without a single sip of water… that’s when you’ll be starting to get thirsty.
So you grab an empty jug, walk over to the faucet, and turn the handle.
To your amazement, nothing more than a few drops rush out followed by a gust of air.

48-72 hours without water? You probably can’t imagine it and I hope you never have to since you’d likely be close to death by that point.

My family, and our safety, are priority number one. However, if someone was willing to pitch in, I'd help them, but I also have some pretty specific protocols for doing so, while assuring our safety. They will just have to understand why, or they can leave (which has its own protocols, for ensuring they don't return with friends).

While I think you'd have to see any new person as a threat initially, I think they could be given a chance (safely) to prove themselves, as a diverse skillset would be necessary for the group's survival.

While not going into all of the protocol specifics, the general breakdown is:

1. Initial introduction (done with our safety in mind)
2. Interview (to determine truthfulness, family situation, goals, skills, risk, etc.)
3. Quarantine when not supervised (and secretly monitored then)
4. Contribution Assessment (how well do they contribute in their role)
5. Followup Interview (to ensure they "fit" with us, etc.)
6. Eventual Acceptance or Banishment (still with limited observation)
7. Full Acceptance (proven loyalty)

We also plan to (eventually) be a kind of trading post, so that has it's own security and protocol challenges.

a reply to: Gazrok

Just on this am to read, but saw GAZROCK in the house and had to jump in!

We should connect if you are close as I to plan to do a barter and trade center...

Great post and you have to know I miss reading your posts.

*sigh*, I dont think many people here have actually witnessed what desperate people without accountability are really capable of. Everyone turns Hollywood, is your best friend, can be trusted, and will sing and say everything you want to hear. How many times will it take for a hand to be forced, or friends and relatives lost before the Disneyland, Sesame Street approach is understood to be more dangerous to ones well being than projecting the reality of the animals we are upon first contact??

I am not against dialogue, but it will need to be done with a physical line drawn, with the understanding that death will ensue with the first violation. They also must receive absolute ZERO from your party, with the understanding that there is only zero to give, even if we actually have years of provisions, a plentiful water supply, and adequate housing.

I mean if we think acting is good in Hollywood, just wait to see what random strangers have to offer when the institutions of civilization have fallen and easy living is gone. It only takes the blink of an eye and your back turned 1 second for a blade to be drawn out of concealment and meet the throat, please noone forget that.

Great post and you have to know I miss reading your posts.

Thanks. I'm still on here now and then. Mostly in here and the TV and Movie forums these days. Not a whole lot of new info in the area of Aliens, so kind of feel like enough has been said there.

Prepping is a bit more my passion now, more specifically, self sustainability. I still work in the city, but I have horses, rabbits, and chickens to come home to (as well as our other pets).

I mean if we think acting is good in Hollywood, just wait to see what random strangers have to offer when the institutions of civilization have fallen and easy living is gone. It only takes the blink of an eye and your back turned 1 second for a blade to be drawn out of concealment and meet the throat, please noone forget that.

Of course, my goal would be to show them that such an action would not be in their best interest, as they don't know how things work, how they'd repair, how they'd grow, etc. I'd have to think that someone who was barely surviving, who found themselves with fresh eggs for breakfast, fish, rabbit, or fowl for lunch and dinner, as well as fresh veggies each day, and a nice roof over their head...just may instead be thankful, and do whatever job they needed to, to keep it that way. Call me crazy. Add in resident medical folks, protection, etc., and it'd be a pretty dumb idea to harm one of us and lose it.

Plus of course, before killing me, I'd have to inform them that they don't know where I keep the antidote that is usually in lunch, for the poison in breakfast each day...so may want to reconsider and just choose banishment instead....but, free will and all....