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I was talking with a woman here in Salem the other day about prepping. I was buying several large cases of bottled water and she was asking if I was having an event. When I told her I was replacing some emergency supplies I'd gotten into, she made some snide comments ridiculing "preppers". I didn't (and still don't) understand where she was coming from.
I asked her if she had ANY supplies saved up. She said no, she didn't need any as she would be taken care of by the government. I asked her if they took care of people during Katrina very well. She admitted that they didn't but that it was an "oversight that has since been corrected. It wouldn't happen in the future." I was/am astonished. I've heard similar rhetoric, but this was insanely stupid. I recommended she at least look at the FEMA or Ready.gov websites. I walked away. I couldn't think of anything else to say to her.
I started prepping when I was young. We didn't call it prepping then. It was being minimally prepared. We kept a stocked pantry with 1-2 months food, camping/hiking equipment staged for travel, paperwork in order, etc. Common sense lessons learned by my grandparents. They insisted their children continue passing the lessons on. They were depression era folks and really didn't have a good time growing up.
I want to understand why so many people don't have even the basics. When did it become popular to be unprepared? To me, survival basics are: air to breathe, shelter/warmth, water, food. I can understand someone sticking to a minimal emergency kit. Especially if they're living on a tight budget. There are a lot of other things that would be nice to have. Weapons, first aid kit, tents, sleeping bags, packs, etc. Most could survive without them, but would you want to be in the situation of needing and being without? These types of things are the basics of staying alive. Are they suicidal? Do they need to see a psychologist?
I asked her if she had ANY supplies saved up. She said no, she didn't need any as she would be taken care of by the government. I asked her if they took care of people during Katrina very well. She admitted that they didn't but that it was an "oversight that has since been corrected. It wouldn't happen in the future." I was/am astonished. I've heard similar rhetoric, but this was insanely stupid. I recommended she at least look at the FEMA or Ready.gov websites. I walked away. I couldn't think of anything else to say to her.
I started prepping when I was young. We didn't call it prepping then. It was being minimally prepared. We kept a stocked pantry with 1-2 months food, camping/hiking equipment staged for travel, paperwork in order, etc. Common sense lessons learned by my grandparents. They insisted their children continue passing the lessons on. They were depression era folks and really didn't have a good time growing up.
I want to understand why so many people don't have even the basics. When did it become popular to be unprepared? To me, survival basics are: air to breathe, shelter/warmth, water, food. I can understand someone sticking to a minimal emergency kit. Especially if they're living on a tight budget. There are a lot of other things that would be nice to have. Weapons, first aid kit, tents, sleeping bags, packs, etc. Most could survive without them, but would you want to be in the situation of needing and being without? These types of things are the basics of staying alive. Are they suicidal? Do they need to see a psychologist?
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