First Things First

There are a lot of things that I would like to admit to, but unfortunately, most of them would be a lie. Sometimes you would like to plead guilty to being caught in an affair with a beautiful actress, or having millions of dollars in a hidden account or, like Al Gore, to have invented the internet. Instead, all people ever accuse me of is being negative.

Now, I consider myself an upbeat kind of guy. Sure, I would never cheat on my wife and she has her hands on what little money I have and I don’t like Al Gore and most of the time I have a hard time spelling www dot anything. So why am I accused of being so negative? I hear it everyday.

People always ask, “why are you so negative?” Negative? Moi? I try to be very positive. Take for example, I am positive that the global fiat paper currency system is going to fail. Hello, am I wrong? I am positive that there will be a total collapse of society because there has been a total departure from Biblical/moral teachings. Amen? I am very positive that because of a collapse in the global currency system that hyperinflation will become a fact of life for an extended period of time. Duh? I am absolutely positive that no matter what scenario you envision, currency collapse, hyperinflation, WWIII, Nibiru, Coronal Mass Ejection (I always feel a little dirty after saying that), Emp’s or dirty bombs, we don‘t have much more than 4 to 24 months left to prepare before things start to get totally chaotic. Yes, I am very positive and this ought to give people hope. But it doesn’t seem to work that way. Why? Okay, here are some of the ridiculous reasons people give me.

“You advocate buying gold and silver but say that that is not enough. What else do you want me to do?” So I tell them.

“You say that I should have 12 to 48 months worth of stored food for every member of my household. What else can you want now?” So I tell them.

“You say that I need guns and ammunition for every member of my family and you say that there is more that I should do. What else can I do.” So I tell them.

“You tell me I should be ready to leave the city at a moment’s notice and you want me to move WHERE?” So I tell them.

“You say we need to train our entire family how to live with no modern conveniences. We’ve done that and now you want us to do what?” So, again, I tell them.

You see, I am very positive. Every time someone gives me some little criticism or lame excuse and asks for a solution I am very happy to give it. So what is their problem? I think I have figured it out. They do not realize that even if they did all these things that I had just mentioned there are other things that still have to be completed. I figured out that it must be my fault. Why? Let me explain.

Let’s say you want to write a how-to book on how to defuse a bomb. Okay, you are a world recognized expert. You tell how to identify the bomb (i.e. hyperinflation, Coronal Mass Ejection (it still sounds dirty) or WWIII), you tell how to neutralize the bomb (i.e. buy gold and silver, insulate your environment, move underground) and then you begin to explain how to disarm the bomb (i.e. stock food, water, ammunition). You’re the expert writing the book and you know there are three wires that are important, the green wire, the black wire and the red wire.

Now here is the tricky part. You are writing the instructions and you write something like, “Cut the primary RED wire” appears at the bottom of page 3 and on top of page 4 is “but first,…” BOOM! OOPS, you just lost a reader forever. If you give instructions to be followed to the letter, and everyone has followed them to the letter the last thing they want to hear at the very end is BUT FIRST!

In our frenzied preparations for the coming scenario of scenarios we blurt out tidbits of information, hoping beyond hope that the listener is hearing everything we say plus everything we are thinking. In Texas we say, “that ain’ta gonna happen.” Sometimes, we have to stop or slow down and temper everything we say with the first and foremost thing we need to say and that is “I’m telling you this because I love you”. If we didn’t care about the person then why warn them, right? Sometimes we forget to use the secret weapon, love. And, oh boy, is it a powerful weapon.

I love everyone in my family. But, it is hard to remember that, when people hold up their fingers in the shape of a cross or grab a clove or a whole bulb of garlic and wave it in front of you when you approach them. Although, I am pretty sure they are just joking, I think, their eyes usually glaze over when I mention some of the aforementioned topics. I have even caught a few looking at their watches repeatedly or suddenly remembering a doctor’s appointment. The first couple of times it didn’t mean much but when you realize most doctors are not usually in their offices on Sundays, it does get to be a little suspicious.

I am happy to report that after more than thirty years of telling people to prepare all, er most, uh some, well a few, have taken me seriously and begun preparing. Well, what they actually said was that they bought an extra gallon of milk and a couple of extra cans of SPAM. This is progress, though, right? You start with baby steps is what I always heard.

Does any of this sound familiar? If, out of love and concern for your family, you have tried to warn your family and friends of any of the above threats, all of them or even more, I am sure that you can understand and empathize with what I am saying. Is there anything else that you or I can or should do? Perhaps, add a few cans of evaporated milk and a couple of extra cans of SPAM and remind them of it when they show up knocking at the door when the SHTF. But don’t rub it in. Not immediately any way. Wait a month or two. Yes, I am joking.

The Bible tells us that Noah was the first serious Prepper!

The first person in the Bible that we see preparing for a disaster is Noah.God gave Noah 120 years to build an ark and to preach to the people to try and convince them to turn from their wicked ways. Nobody listened. They all laughed at Noah. “Poor dumb Noah.” “Water has never fallen from the sky before why should it fall now.” “Stupid prepper, never shuts up about rain. What’s rain?” You can just hear all the things they said about Noah. In 120 years the only people that believed him were his wife, three sons and three daughters-in-law.

Who was the next person to prepare in a big way. Believe it or not, he is also given credit by some, John Williams to name one, as being the first economist, and that was Joseph. He prepared during 7 good years for 7 bad years. Not only did his brothers not believe him, they didn’t like him, and they sold him into slavery. What happened? In the end Joseph spared his brothers from the famine. (The Bible doesn’t mention whether or not he ever told them about the canned milk and SPAM but it doesn’t matter. You get the idea.)

Yes, we love our family and our family of friends. And, as such, we must learn to temper not only our warnings, pleadings, but also our preparations, with love. I know you know what to do. I know you love your family or you wouldn’t be worried about them. But please, stop beating your head against the wall and just go ahead and add the canned milk and SPAM for your friends and loved ones. And, while you’re at it throw in a couple of hundred pounds of rice, beans and wheat for each of them, too. You already have a fairly good idea who it is going to be, so just do the math and buy the extra you’ll need.

At some point in time we must admit, mainly to ourselves, that even though some people don’t want to acknowledge it, they do understand what you say. They are hearing it, it is getting through. It is just a tremendous leap of faith to go from admitting it, to actually doing it. If you honestly and truly believe in what you are saying and doing, then you already have the necessary faith. They don’t and don’t understand why you are being so difficult. But at some point in time, it will all come flooding back into their memory and they will take action on what you said. Let’s just hope that at that time it will not be too late. So one day, after there has been a worldwide banking collapse, a suitcase nuclear bomb or a Coronal Mass Ej…you know, and they show up on your doorstep, go ahead and let them in. In about a month or so it will be okay to mention how expensive the canned milk and SPAM was. (p.s. Don’t tell them about the wheat, rice and beans until much later. Make them sweat a little.)

Keep packing and keep stacking and learn to laugh a little more. If we take ourselves too seriously, others won’t.