I've been reading both the preparedness and general forum here for a while now and it has become apparent there is a glaring error that has crept into the assumptions of a lot of folks in this forum.

This silly argument between "pollys" and "doomers" about the severity of Y2K and whether you need to prepare or not entirely misses the point.

The Year 2000 computer bug is a one-time event, never to be repeated on such a large scale again. What you need to be preparing for (doomer and pollys alike) are for those disasters and crises that have happened many times before and are likely to happen many more times in the future.

Pick up a national daily newspaper on any given day and you'll find at least one story (more likely several) about at least one person who really could have used a preparedness program to get them through a bad situation. That's every day. Read a week's worth of the New York Times and you'll probably have several dozen examples. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, stranded automobiles in remote locations, blizzards, ice storms, forest fires, chemical spills, riots, wars, famines, plagues, depressions and on and on and on. Those are the things you should have been preparing for all of your lives. In the course of a long life every single person in this forum, polly and doomer alike, will find themselves in at least one such a situation at least once. Having the knowledge and tools on hand to cope with the situation can mean the difference between the living and the dead.

If we never get the first flicker in our lights, never have the first date related computer problem at all it won't change one thing about the way my family prepares or why.

If I never have to use the first damn bit of it well that's GREAT! It's exactly what I want.

In another sixty five years (when I'm 102, my goal for living) I'll gather my children and grandchildren around me. I'll call in my nieces and nephews, my wife, brothers and sisters and all the rest of my relatives, friends and neighbors. They can all drink my whisky and laugh at me for being such a fool to keep all that preparedness junk for so many years and never needed it. They can laugh and I'll laugh the loudest and longest right along with them.

I'll laugh because I'll have won! I'll have won because we'll all be there in sixty five years for them to stand there and laugh at me and that's the only reason I bothered in the first place.

Survivalism is only a means to an end, not an end unto itself.

Y2K, no matter what it brings, is only one of a long line of events we'll have to survive if we wish to live to a ripe old age.

BITR? So what.

.............Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@sprintmail.com), December 17, 1999

Answers

Yep. Just like the children of the Depression who couldn't even throw a used piece of yarn away-they had to save it. They were all for preparedness.

Of course, now most of them are raising/have raised their grandchildren because their own kids weren't so smart...

You'd be amazed at the complacency level of most Gen-xers about both crises and everyday life.

-- Jenny (Jenny@work.now), December 17, 1999.

Right on.

We already had one year-long period in our life where "preps" would have made an enormous difference to our family's flexibility and peace of mind. Ditto for other family members (thinking back to events in their lives).

Maybe we never will have such a need again. Then again, maybe we will have several such periods .....

Thanks for a great post.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), December 17, 1999.

Amen, A.T.!

About 23 years ago I was pregnant with my daughter. My then husband worked in law enforcement and had long and somewhat irregular hours. We had one car, which he took to work. We lived in an area of the country that 'enjoys' ice storms occasionally. He was paid once a month, and what a meager salary it was, at that. We lived in an apartment complex that was on the outskirts of town and we weren't on a busline. Our neighbors consisted mostly of senior citizens who didn't drive much. I was due the middle of February.

One day, really out of the blue, 'something' told me it might be a good idea to get a month's worth of food, cleaning supplies, etc. ahead, so that I wouldn't have to worry about how to go to the store in nasty weather right after the baby came. Hubby might be working and unable to 'run to the store', and in those times, the grocery selection at the convenience store (when you could 'find' a convenience store!) was very limited/expensive. So I built my pantry little by little for several weeks.

The day I was admitted to the hospital, it started to snow, then turned to ice. This town had the worst ice storm it it's history... the town was completely unprepared to handle the roads; it was very dangerous to be out. Yes, hubby worked a lot of overtime then, due to the necessity caused by the storm. It was a week or so before roads there were navigable. Some of the smaller towns nearby had their schools closed for 3 weeks...roads were impassable.

But the baby and I were fine at home! And for several weeks after that, too, because I had the 'gut feeling' to lay in a few supplies. I shudder to think of how much more 'complicated' it would have been with a new baby AND trying to get to the store/deal with 'Daddy' being gone if I had not done so. I've had a very 'comfortable' pantry ever since.

Anyone who has been ill, lost a job, experienced a natural disaster, etc. will tell you what a relief it is not to have to worry about the basics. And believe it or not...everyone will have a need to be prepared to some degree at least once in their life. Just because you've never needed to be 'stocked' before doesn't mean you're immune. It's one less thing to worry with when your mind needs to be concentrating on other, more important things. It's a relief.

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), December 17, 1999.

Is that you, ladylogic, trying to worm your way back in???

-- Z (Z@Z.Z), December 17, 1999.

No, that's not LL.

-- Gregg (g.abbott@starting-point.com), December 17, 1999.