WE ARE SURVIVALISTS
He who fails to prepare for the night, fails to prepare
for the dawn.
I am a survivalist and by nature a survivalist is an
OPTIMIST. I do not
have one pessimistic bone in my body. If what I just said
sounds odd to you
then you are not yet a survivalist and you do not
understand the modern
survivalist at all. It has been very difficult to
communicate to the public
and the mass communications media, the concept of
an optimistic, hopeful
survivalist.
A fireman is a fireman, not because he
believes everything will burn, but
because he believes much can be saved.
Doctors don't believe in death, they
believe in life, and a survivalist is
not a survivalist because he believes
everything must be destroyed and
everyone must die, he believes that life and
freedom can be saved, if people
of good will are prepared. A fireman does not
start fires, a doctor does not
make disease and a survivalist does not make
disaster.
Crime, disease,
war, revolution, fire, flood, periodic financial collapse
and famine are the
results of nature and the nature of man and unfortunately
are not within the
power of anyone on this earth to prevent.
We all know that the sun will set
each day, leaving us in darkness and we
all know that warm summers give way to cold winters and that we can do nothing
to keep the sun from setting to
the cold winds from coming, does this make us
pessimistic? I think not! So
then why is the survivalist called a pessimist
when he makes ready to face
events that are just as much part of history and
nature as the sunset and
changing of the seasons.
Another misconception is that survivalists are
predicting world disaster.
On the contrary, we seem to be the OPTIMISTIC
MINORITY that is predicting
world survival. We are hard pressed to find any
well recommended historians,
economists, political scientists, sociologists
or military strategists that
can come up with a scenario that gives even a
fifty-fifty chance of avoiding a
large scale catastrophe, yet we survivalist
dare to be OPTIMISTIC about the
future. We survivalists do not need to
predict the probability of disaster
anymore than we need to predict the sun
setting.
Those who criticize survivalists, are like men who refuse to look at
a
calendar, in the hope that through self-imposed ignorance they can keep
from
aging another year.
"You survivalists will be disappointed if we
don't have a world cataclysm",
here is another accusation that is pure B.S.
and I could not think of a milder
phrase to describe it. We survivalists have
loved ones we don't want to see
hurt or killed, we have homes we don't want
to see destroyed, we are not fools
to think that just because we are
survivalists a world cataclysm would be fun
for us or the we would not
experience danger, loss, hunger, injury, cold or
even despair and
death.
We have spent time and money to improve our chances for survival
and
recovery from disaster, but we would have a great celebration if some day
we
could be assured that we had wasted our time. No, we will not be
disappointed
if there is no disaster to survive, anymore than the Red Cross
is disappointed
when there are no floods and storms or the man who buys an
insurance policy is
disappointed when his house fails to burn down.
It may
be said that the survivalist would much prefer the pleasant (but
unlikely)
surprise of being wrong to the (probable) deadly rude awakening that
the non
survivalist will face if he is wrong.
So, you see the survivalist can not
lose because his survival preparations
will be of value regardless of what
the future has in store. In time of
crisis, those who have not prepared to
turn to each other, will turn on each
other.
It is most regrettable
indeed, that many people consider survivalists as a
threat and regard them
with suspicion and even hostility. This attitude is
logically indefensible
and is rooted in the non survivalists own sense of fear
and guilt.
Subconsciously, the new survivalist may hate the survivalist for
reminding
him of how fragile his lifestyle is. Now, let's get the facts
turned around
right. Every person who has not made provisions for surviving
without food,
water, fuel and other essential needs from the outside, is a
mortal danger to
his neighbours.
What will a man do when he and his family are freezing,
hungry, thirsty,
sick and starving? He may ask or beg his neighbors for help,
but when they
have no extra fuel, food, water or medicine to give, will he
just go back home
to die with his wife and kids? What do you think? We
survivalists who stock
up on food and other supplies, now do a favor to
society because what we now
buy is replaced on the shelves so there will be
that much more available in an
emergency. We survivalists won't be looting
and killing for food. We won't be
a burden on the medical facilities or a
danger to the police. Since we will
be able to turn to each other, we will
not need to turn on anyone and we may
be able to help at least
some.
Survival preparation should be regarded as a social obligation, one
that
every individual owes to his family and community and his nation.
The
non survivalist is simply a poor and irresponsible citizen.
So the
reality is, that survivalists are optimistic, self-reliant
individuals, who
cannot help but see the imperative of preparing for the worst
possible
events, while hoping sincerely, that they won't happen. Today's
survivalist
is an asset to his community and to the world and should be proud
to be
called SURVIVALIST.
