Posted on 10/08/2001 7:25:50 PM PDT by error99
I've heard a lot of folks talking lately about "what can I do to help?" and "what should I do to prepare?".
I've heard TV reports indicate that our new "Office of Homeland Security" is going to tell us how and what we, as citizens should do. Many sheeple seem to be waiting to be told what they should do.
It seems there are many things that all of us can and should be doing to "be pepared".
Remember all of that effort in "getting ready" for Y2K? A lot of what needs to be done is along those same lines.
Keep extra food around...
Keep the car(s) gassed up...
Stock up on any critical prescription needs...
Keep some cash readily accessible...
Keep batteries and a portable radio handy...
Those are the EASY things to do, and the things that would most often come to mind in a conversation.
But there is MORE in my mind that can be done. These are the skill-related items. Emergency situations could result in a lot of existing systems becoming overused. I think we should all find a way to learn new skills and/or share existing skills that could be used in emergency situations.
All of us have something we could learn and most have something we could share.
Do you have a valuable skill?
Can you share that knowledge with a friend or neighbor?
Can you take the time to learn a new skill?
These could include things like:
First Aid/CPR,
Recognizing diseases, nursing/paramedic programs,
Sterizization, home canning, and food preservation methods,
Proficiency in handling and caring for weapons,
CB and shortwave radio usage,
Operation of back-hoe, front end loader, and other heavy equipment,
Fire-fighting,
etc., etc., etc.
I just can't see sitting around and waiting for someone from Washington to tell me what I should be doing.
Sure, so maybe nothing "bad" happens...so what? Some of us citizens might learn more about something that we ultimately did not need to know. But then again, most of these skills would be in great demand in the event of hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms, eathquakes, or civil disturbances.
Just some idle thoughts. I'm too old to go off to war but I'm getting danged tired of just sitting here wondering what's going to happen next. Some of these topics would be good for Freeper Chapters and groups to consider.
We should be getting directives from the top...and hopefully soon.
So Y2K was not a total loss since it taught us a little about "being ready".
A lot of the hardware and other "stuff" (hurricane lamps, guns and ammo,
water drums, generators, just might still find use.
Well, war may be national, but people are "local." There will come a time for "directed action," but now is not that time. Now is the time for local action... "getting ready" so to speak. The country and its populace have been far too fragmented for too long. Most people don't even know their neighbors' names!
As usual, I'm waiting for government weenies to tell me what to do so I can tell them to KMA.
We've already started doing that in my neighborhood. Also finding out each other's backgrounds and skills. As the poem says, "No Man (or Woman) is an Island"
If you weren't a Y2Ker, get either a good leftover Y2K manual - or a good preparedness manual at a show. Y2Kers here in Alamance County, North Carolina lived well late last May - months after others here ridiculed us - when a minitornado took out power countywide, and with it supermarkets (and cooking for most home ranges) for 4-14 days.
So get ready...but our national civil defence is a disgrace.
This is not an isolated disaster...but a national one, dear.
Wars are national...and we need directives from the top administration.
Have you been called to guard at stations at our resourses that you mention above?
My friend, we must be "seasonal" in our doing, else we wind up with much exertion and nothing to show for it. The real Crisis is yet to come; this is just a warm-up. Now is the time to prepare for it.
You probably can't remember World War II any more than I can, but that was a national Crisis, yet most of the actions taken by individuals were local: Victory gardens, buying War bonds, saving scrap iron and tin, fuel rationing, women filling in for men who were fighting.
We should all be asking ourselves, "What is the most important thing I can do today to help in this effort?" Waiting around for our government to tell me what to do didn't make today's list. There will come a time when it does, but today other things were more important.
You little foolish person. All of the things you mentioned above were government oriented...all.
If you think you can survive a real war by your lonesome self, you are mistaken.
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