Survivalists on the increase

For some reason, pegging yourself a survivalist is a negative thing. People think you are a nut case or a doomsdayer waiting for the sky to fall.

For most survivalists, it is a matter of being as self-sufficient as possible, and being prepared for hard times. With gas prices rising through the roof, it tends to snowball. The price of EVERYTHING goes up--except our paychecks.

As ES said, we are not doomsdayers or TEOTWAWKI--we are just a family who wants to be prepared. I don't think it is a bad thing to know how to grow your own food, provide your own energy, make your own soap, defend you property...when did it become a BAD thing to be independent and not depend on the government to take care of you?

I just read an article on Yahoo! news about the increase of survivalists. No matter what the reasoning, learning to be a survivor is not a bad thing.


http://green.yahoo.com/news/ap/20080524/ap_on_re_us/environmental_survivalists.html

Our family still has a long way to go before we are completely self-sufficient. But we are learning. ES and I consider ourselves the NEW pioneer women. We are learning as much as we can about self-reliance. In a world with laptops with WI-FI capabilities, cell phones that can take picture, connect to the internet, play music, and oh, yeah, make phone calls, we have become a gadget-obsessed world. Kids don't have to play outside anymore, because they have Wii hooked to their HDTV. No one needs to go to the library and crack a book, because they can sit at home on the computer and surf the web.

Do I sound cynical? Yeah, I am cynical. Technology is great--I am not slamming technology one bit. Heck, I would be a hypocrite if I didn't mention that I am sitting here spouting on a blog that anyone in the world with internet access can read. It is just that technology has made a lot of us lazy. I am guilty. But I am trying to change that....

I think the people who slam survivalists are the ones who have never used a fishing pole, and wouldn't have clue how to use it; they have never planted a garden and experienced the satisfaction of eating that first ripe tomato; they have never eaten meat that wasn't bought at a grocery store or restaurant; they don't know cpr or first aid, because that's what EMT's are for....

I'm not ashamed to be called a survivalist. I am actually proud of myself and my family for taking the steps to be more self-reliant and prepared for any disaster that may come our way. And I admire those who are making the choice to do the same.

Just an aside: We subscribe to Backwoods Home Magazine. There is soooooo much info that can be gleaned from these issues! You can visit their website, http://www.backwoodshome.com/ for more info.

~D