I’m not entirely 100% sure where this blog will end up but there are a few things that I would like to mention. I am a very passionate person and have a lot of things that I would like to do which usually get placed to the side for the things I have to do. There are several things that have made me really stop and take stock a bit recently and I wanted to share. Some might feel the same way and feel a comaraderie while it may spark a bit of interest in others. Still, the third group will look at this and it won’t really make too much of a difference.
First, I would like to start that, regardless of what my posts state, I am not convinced that the world is going to end soon or that our country is going to start singing another countries national anthem. Our country is in debt to other countries and if they decide to “foreclose”, there will be issues. We, as a nation, won’t stand for that but that is a different subject.
I don’t believe for one minute that we, as American’s should be complacent. Once we become complacent, as we are now, we stand to lose a lot. This doesn’t mean that we should always be on edge, but we should keep an eye on what is going on around us in the bigger picture. Give up American Idol for one night and watch the news. See what is going on in your country and states.
The other thing is that we make sure we are self-reliant. I, as well as many others have stated that we need to regain skills we have lost over the last century. We have become extravagant on many fronts. We live paycheck-to-paycheck. Not many of us could survive beyond a couple of days in our homes and most would panic if the power was out for longer than a couple of hours.
Most of us, because of our lifestyles, could not survive beyond 30 days if we suffered a layoff or something else that kept us from getting a paycheck. There are no savings, there are no food stores, there is nothing that will protect us in case of some disaster.
At this point, I should define disaster because most people think of the “act of God” type events when the word disaster is mentioned. A disaster is anything that can potentially cause conflict or a disruption of normal, defined living arrangements. Disasters can be acts of God as we saw with Katrina. Disasters could be something as severe and global as a complete breakdown in civil order to something to something as local as losing one’s job. Each of these produce different results. A disaster could be something as simple as the power going out for a couple of hours. What if the disaster were as minuscule as the shipment of strawberries being sunk in the ocean or spread all over the highway because of an accident? What about not being able to get things because the gas prices are too high and the truckers are on strike? You can imagine a whole slew of “What if’s” but the important thing is that the result is the same to various degrees; normal life changes in one way or another.
It is up to each of us to prepare for the best and the worst. With some of my posts, they are extreme. That is to provide the safety net in case something large does happen. No one can predict when an earthquake will strike. In the Salt Lake Valley, we have a major fault line not more than 5-7 miles from my house that will eventually provide a very large and very damaging earthquake. It could happen in 5 minutes or in 5 centuries. It will happen but when, we have no idea.
When we are prepared for the worst of things to happen, we are prepared for everything in between. If something does happen, we will not panic because we have prepared ourselves for such events.
This doesn’t mean that we should let it consume all of our time, energy, and resources. It means that we should make plans to make sure immediate needs are taken care of. Take time to learn different skills. By keeping in shape and preparing, we are insuring ourselves against problems. Then, we take the rest of our time and enjoy life.
Some of my posts are very dramatic in these respects and you will see more in the future. I don’t plan on stopping them but they are my way of keeping that information or requirements at the forefront of my mind to make sure I am not putting them on the “ignore” list. I still take the time to read books to the kids, watch movies, go on outings like Lagoon or the Zoo or just read a book.
I enjoy my time writing these posts. I sometimes like the emotional outburst it provides. It affords me an opportunity to rant and rave and when I’m done, I then have the opportunity to address the situations that have arisen to cause the outburst. Some posts are political, religious and controversial. That is what this blog is all about. This is where I express my most extreme views or cause the most amount of ruckus.
But I also like the debate, the time to learn new things and, on occasion, I have changed my view on things. That is not because I am wishy-washy, but because my views are ever changing. As new information is presented, it is added to what I have and then a new opinion is calculated. If I had all the facts up front or could predict how things would turn out with 100% accuracy, I would be less likely to change my opinion but as an imperfect being with limited knowledge, I do reserve that right to change my opinion and not be sorry for doing so.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this. I wasn’t sure where I was going to end up so I didn’t start with a title. Not exactly sure what to title it but maybe….
