This is an interesting question because it calls reality into the game along with theory. Many of us grew up with parents who lived through "The Great Depression" and all that went with it. My mom, as a result, saved EVERYTHING, even the tin foil gum wrappers because she grew up when there just wasn't anything to be had. They made stuff if they wanted to have it. They did "WITOUT" on lots of occasions and somehow managed to "survive" till they died (which was eventual for everyone of them).
The difference we see is that we are in between that generation and the one that we brought to this earth who have been given "a better life" than we had. Well, other than coming from austere financial circumstances, I had a fairly decent life to start. My dad had a HS diploma in 1930 which meant he was pretty well educated. My mom (despite her mental health issues) went to college although she never finished till she was 63. Regardless of the challenges of being relatively less well off than the neighbors, we always had a car and gas in it, food on the table, enough money to pay the mortgage off eventually so we lived in the same house my entire youth which we sold a few years after I came home from Viet Nam. We got a new pair of shoes and some new clothes every September when school started. We didn't have money for "luxury items" but we did have a telephone and a TV which in those days was rare in places. We went to church on Sunday and even though I walked to church, we had the privilege to do so wherever we wanted without having to worry about someone killing us because we didn't go to their church.
The difference now is that at least 2 generations have come to this earth who have suffered essentially NO REAL HARDSHIP, either because our parents worked their fingers to the bone to get us a decent education and we worked hard to get our children the same thing. The world has NOT been at war where people are getting blown to bits and their homes and cities are being decimated by huge battles both air and land based except in a few places where evil folks continue to push their tyrannical agenda.
Our people are NOT living in fear for their lives (although maybe they should be, given the existance that nuclear weapons are now in the hands of those who would use them on us with impugnity if they had the delivery system to do so) and for the most part, we have the "luxury" to choose to be self-sufficient without having folks walk into our homes and steal everything, rape our women and kill our men, just because they feel like it. It does however happen in other places in the world every day and the MSM loves to let you know the most ugly and gross details that they think you can stomach.
Why, you might ask, is that the case? Why are we able to live in relative peace and sit here on the Internet and discuss whether we would really like to have that sort of chaos and anarchy in OUR land? Furthermore, do any of you who "secretely wish" for TS to HTF ever stop to think what that REALLY means? How many of you have ever had a group of people coming toward you whose sole purpose was to kill you, RIGHT NOW? I have, and I'm here to tell you it just isn't fun. It is H*ll and if you think otherwise it is because you 've watched too many movies where the "good guy always wins". You don't see the part where the "good guys" get their buddies blown to bits and then decide to get mad enough to get the guys who did it and KILL THEM. You JUST DON"T KNOW.
Maybe a select few of you might have some inkling of an idea but I would venture to guess that most of you just don't.
So, if as you say "TSHTF" happens, do you honestly think it won't "reach YOU"? Do you think the Zombies to which you refer (and who all own/have guns) will just ignore you because you are a good person and just trying to live your life in a SS manner? HAHA, think again boys and girls. They will kill you as quick as look at you, often in a really brutal manner, then steal all you have and you'll be lucky if you die rather than survive until you die because you are injured too much to be able to work and survive in that SS manner. REALITY CHECK 101!!!
You do this SS thing because you have the luxury to do so. I do it for the same reason, and realize that I may have to do it and all the while stay up all night on watch to keep the Zombies from over-running my farm and stealing my cattle and tractor etc. so they can get another free meal. (Watch the movie "Cold Mountain" and see what the Union Army guys did to the folks living in places which would otherwise seem obscure) Watch the movie "The Postman" and get a feel for some nasty folks there, too!
C'mon here folks. Do you actually even have a clue? The Zombies only want to destroy and steal so they don't have to work. Right now they just get free money to keep them under control but how long do you think that control would last if the "free money" simply dried up? They are not going to stop and take your little SS homestead and start living like you wanted to after they blow you and your family to bits. Get a grip here. They will steal what they want, burn the rest and leave you either dead or wishing to be.
What we refer to as TSHTF here is the "Tribulation" as explained in The Revelation according to St. John. People have been fearing that for thousands of years. It has happened several times already. WW I and WW II are good examples. The difference is that those two generations since OUR parents were here have NOT had to endure such things and all of us live in fear that it will happen again. Well, based on the truths (not just facts) of history, those things not only can happen again, but look like they very well may during OUR lifetime. My fear is not being young enough to do the work of supporting myself after all the time I have spent getting myself ready to do it. Whiile I am in no way infirm, and am able to do a hard day's work, doing that much hard work when I am 85 may not seem all that much fun. YMMV.
What we are talking about is something that is for all intents and purposes, incomprehensible to all but a very select few of you *(and you know who you are). The rest of you are, in some way AWARE which makes you different from the ones at that party whose reality IS BMW's and Mercedes and iPhones and the like. That IS their reality and for what it is worth, a rather luxurious one at that. What will they do if that "luxurious lifestyle" is suddenly and irreversibly interupted? They will do what any of you will do. They will have to adapt or they will die, either by being killed by Zombies who got a "leg up" on the "kill everyone in your way" mode or they will start walking to whereever they can find something to eat and take it, either with your permission or by force because they ARE the Zombies to whom we so glibly refer.
One of you succinctly wrote, "Be careful what you wish for" and nothing could be more correct. Your best hope in this life is to spend your entire lifespan, (regardless of how long that is SUPPOSED TO BE) in the peace and tranquility of what we call "The United STates of America". The reason you have that freedom is because young people like yourselves were called into service to stop the advancement of evil and aggression (e.g. Zombies who were at that time wearing uniforms) and these young Americans fought and died to preserve the life style you now enjoy. IT wasn't done through peaceful negotiations or "just talking to them". It was done by being the "meanest MF in the valley of the shadow of death" and WINNING (which means the enemy got tired of getting his people blown to bits and THEIR BUTT kicked).
If anyone you know doesn't GET THIS, then get away from them quickly because they won't "get it" in any REAL situation where TSHTF because they just won't know what to do and they will take you down with them.
My SS life started before I was a Green Beret but was amplified by the teachings I was exposed to by them. I had already been to war with the Marines by that time, so the lessons of self-sufficiency were well engrained in my mind after living with what my parents who had survived "The Great Depression". Again, YMMV.
So in summary, THINK carefully before you glibly say "I secretly wish TSHTF" because you REALLY DON"T KNOW what that means and if you think you do, you are probably badly mistaken. I haven't been kidding you when I write these things here and I hope you are able to understand the urgency with which I write these words because there may not be much time to stop TSHTF from happening even if it can be stopped. That is why I tell you to "keep your butt down, your head on a swivel and your powder dry" because that really does summarize what you need to know.
Yes, I know you think I was hard on you with this one, but somehow, I hope it opens your eyes to what we are REALLY talking about here when we say TSHTF because it isn't a PARTY, folks. It will really SUCK!
PRIORITY:URGENT/FLASH
Trim sends
//BT// (for now)