Very often in survival circles, you will hear people talk about preparing for when “the shit hits the fan”, or the end of the world as we know it” (usually abbreviated to TEOTWAWKI), or even just “the big one”. What they mean by that is quite varied and depends on who you’re talking to and their personal beliefs and opinions. The person speaking might be talking about an EMP event, a major earthquake, a financial/ societal collapse, a terrorist attack, a flu epidemic…well, the list goes on and on.
The interesting thing about this sort of talk is that there is an unspoken assumption that they will recognize the event before it happens, making it possible to put their preps into effect. Often, survivalists will be deeply knowledgeable about a particular type of disaster, usually the one that they fear most or for which they feel least prepared. For example, Prepper X might be able to give you chapter and verse on EMP, how it is generated, what the primary effects are, the follow on effects, how to protect your gear from EMP and so on. While he will likely have at least some knowledge in other areas of concern, he may not be watching them closely or may see their effects as minor.
The danger for this type of prepper is that the ‘big one’ might never happen. What happens instead is a whole bunch of little ones combine to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It takes only a quick look at the news over the last few months to see that we’re enduring a veritable swarm of little ones. Just a few examples:
Food prices are becoming an issue, from the less than spectacular North American and European wheat harvests of 2010 to the Australian flooding to the Mexico freeze, and who knows what else. Here on the prairies the prediction is for a cold wet spring, hardly ideal seeding conditions.
Mideast unrest is presently driving up the price of oil, which in turn will drive up the price of damn near everything else. It will make already expensive food more so because of transportation costs, and fertilizer and herbicide/insecticide prices will also rise, pushing up production costs. If things went exactly wrong, you might see actual oil shortages rather than just speculation driven price increases.
And how about the financial world? The Euro isn’t out of the woods, neither is the U.S. dollar. There may be a second wave of home mortgage debt to deal with, never mind the commercial mortgages. Add into that the debt crisis facing many of our southern brethren’s cities and states, and you’ve got something to keep you tossing and turning at night.
If that isn’t enough, you are seeing massive labour unrest across the border as many states enact or try to enact union busting legislation. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before some nincompoop Canadian politician tries it. If Mr. Harper gets a majority in the spring, all bets are off.
At any rate, I think you see my point. It isn’t one big event that might be a problem, but a host of smaller ones that combine to create the ‘perfect storm’. By the time you realize your dinghy is in trouble, it may be too damn late to row for shore.
I urge everyone to keep a wary eye on events as the year progresses. I’ll mix boat metaphors and say that you should keep building your ‘ark’, whatever form it takes. Stick to your program of prepping, but don’t get so caught up in the prepping that you fail to see the rain coming down and the water rising. Don't spend so much time on polishing the handrails that you forget to launch your boat.
Don’t get caught by a perfect storm.
Posted Previously March 03, 2011 @MPN
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