I have pondered what to say here and how to put it into words that may get some people's attention. I NEED you to pay attention: NOW! I came up with some really strange titles as well: "The Grand Depression is coming hurray hurray"! "The collapse of the house of cards"! "History and the making of a disaster"! So many I could never write them all in one place, nor in one amount of time I have to even consider the current situation. Now, I have been called a lot of terms, most of which all boil down to a "Gloom and Doomer". Fine, I'm ok with that! With our current financial situation as it NOW stands, I cannot even begin to expound on the ramifications of what will be if this continues, and even worse, there is NO way on this earth to stop it now. I won't bother to go into the finer details, like: starvation, etc., etc. What I want to relay to everyone is basic and quite simple..... IF you don't grow it, odds are, you wont be eating! See? Very simple. No harsh words, no disasters or impending doom and gloom, no dark clouds, no 40 days of rain and having the sewers backing up ( YUK!) Just common sense.... That which seems to be lacking today, in nearly all walks of life. Get some land, grow some foods! Simple. Now, I know land is not cheap, and I know few people ever have grown so much as a flower in their yards, BUT..... If you don't, you are going to get hungry. I cannot advise anyone to go out and buy 40 or 400 acres of land today....besides few of us are farmers and have no idea of the concept behind farming on such a large scale. Much less even a good sized garden! Almost anyone can plant seeds, or potted plants and at least get a start. Now, there is NO way on the face of this earth you or anyone of us could possibly survive on what a few tomato plants could provide, even if they were as big as trees! And, considering the varous problems with diseases and fungus and virus' that can kill your plants, we are on a long hard uphill battle, for our very existance! That having been said.... It's probably a bit LATE to start today, but at least you could try! Do something! If you were to have several acres, and plan it carefully, you could feed not only yourself and family, but others as well. That excess you may or may not have from your efforts, would go a long long way to barter/trading for other things you may need! As a parent, I can tell you there is nothing worse than telling one of your or other's chldren, there are no foods to eat.... (on a personal level: following a car accident, my kids went without shoes for a time, it was hard on them, and they do not even remember it today, BUT, I will NEVER forget NOR shall I ever FORGIVE those insurance companies involved!) As an adult, and parents, WE are used to giving our children whatever they need (not necessarily what they want) and do it gladly.... We give, to see to it they do not have to do without. But, IF you and I do not prepare for that scenaro of hunger right now, then what? I tried to figure out a way to feed at least 4, if not 6, people over a years time....Not easy, and not cheap. Cause and effect. We can buy tons of boxed/dehydrated foods, and HOPE we can find enough water to reconstitute them for later usage.... We can buy canned goods, and have to carefully monitor them for spoilage.... We NEED to grow fresh foods, NOW, and dehydrate what we don't have an immediate need for. (I need to learn how to do canning myself!) All the gold and all the silver in this old world will not feed you. It will not comfort you. It will not keep a roof over your heads, clothes on your backs and food in your stomachs..... ( I know, I'm in it, all the way up to my eyeballs now!) I understand the concept, and the reasoning for having precious metals.... Now, PLEASE, let me explain way I feel the way I do...... I can sit on a ton of gold, and IF there is no one with no foods to trade, or to barter with, what good is it? (an easy equation: Food=LIFE, period.) I can tell you ( and this will be a problem for many of you, I know this, and yet it's time to be as open and honest as reality is...) If you or your's come to me with a Kruggerand, or a bar of silver or gold, and want to buy bread or fruits or vegetables from me,......you are out of luck my friends! I have NO need of metals, unless they can be easily converted into things that are far more tangible, eg: fillings for one's teeth, and,.... I am short 1 dentist!!! So, to me such things as men hold dear and value above and beyond reason, (mine anyway), I have no need or desire for such things. I will trade foods for foods or equipment for other things.... Look at it from my perspective for just a moment: I can live: IF I eat, IF I drink and IF I have air,...... of course there are some valuable and varied creature comforts as well: ( fire/shelter/clothing). I cannot for the very life of me, see where anything else makes a whole lot of sense. Forgive me, I was born poor, and haved stayed that way all of my life.... ( by my own choice?) Perhaps! I never had stocks or bonds, or such things...I saw no NEED for them. I have never valued many things in my life, except: honesty, trust, and food. That's just the way it is. (welcome to the stark reality of the world I live in) I have almost always lived from paycheck to paycheck. Money to me is a tool, unused, it is a waste. ( IF I have it, I will spend it, and not have any regret's afterwards!) I do not save, I spend more than I have at any given time, and yet... I do NOT have a single credit card! ( I had 1, back in 1976!) As I recently expounded to a local banker (a punk kid to me), why I thought it was foolish to even consider paying him, or his bank, to use my own finances! I don't mean to ramble on, I am trying to make a valid and sincere point here.... ONLY those I think worthy of my time and efforts will ever see this email! I am sending it to each one of you for specific reasons.... I value each and every one of you out there! I want to try to save your lives! I need your help to do this! I can't do this alone! I appreciate and value each and every one of you, or, you would NOT be seeing this. Honestly. I could put it on some obscure blog, or some internet "myspace" blog, but why? It would serve little purpose.... Here, it may strike a chord as it were! I am concerned, worried, and by God, I am scared! I was forewarned of this coming, many years ago, when I was just a child of 9. My grandmother (May God rest her soul) took me to the side and taught me about what they considered the great depression of their times.....all perpetrated by those we were supposed to trust: the politicans and the bankers. I was warned: "You will see this again in your life time", "It will be far worse and last far longer than what we had to endure", "There will be death and grief the likes of which you cannot begin to imagine", "Man will soon even turn to cannibalism, because he has become too lazy, and he has lost the skills to grow his own foods". So, there you have it... Live the best way you know how, be honest, sincere, trustworthy, and compassionate, in all your dealings with your fellow man. "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their own"! Screw what John F. Kennedy said: "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" I am NOT a socialist! Piss on that! I do NOT owe my country, I have done all I am able and got nada in return for that sacrifice, and I had little to give, where so many other's gave their all! I am an American, a capitalist (with all of it's misgiving's), and I am a Veteran! I am a SURVIVOR.... I have survived: when there was no one else to even offer a hand... ( I was only 11 back then!) I had to hunt game and fish, cut wood and build a fire in a wood stove, I had to feed my mother and my older sister.... I had learned how. (I was lucky I paid attention to my Grandmother!) I survived then, and I will survive today, and I will survive tomorrow! I survived: Vietnam. ( the rest of my 40 man "group" did not.) I have survived: 3 marriages and divorces. I survived: the loss of my mother: 1988, my grandmother: 1988, my daughter (only 7 in 1988), and my father: 1991. I am independent and I am what most people consider a real pain in the ass! My own children have even given me a coffee cup that says: "Hard nosed old fart" But, consider for a moment, I am a SURVIVOR! I am hard, yes, but I am a realist too! I will not steal from you, nor, shall you steal from me.... I will give openly and without regard, to my personal needs. I will be your finest and best of friends, or, your best and most hated of enemies.... I leave that decision to others. ( I'm easy!) I want you to live, NOT just to survive. Survival in and of itself is a bitch, at it's most definitive definition! It is hard, cold, cruel, enduring, and insane. It has no bounds, no conscience, and gives you no quarter. You are either ready and able to adapt as a chameleon, or, it will take you, and those you love. You, must do whatever you can, to ensure your own survival, as well as your families and loved ones. If you have friends, true friends, would you NOT share with them as well? Now come's the REAL TEST. You make the decision: If you have need for the foods you have and you have a friend or someone you do not even know, will you share with them? I cannot, nor will I attempt to, answer that question for you. "Many will die"...... Some call it the: "culling of the herd", so to speak. Other's consider this to be the: "survival of the fittest". Tomorrow, more than likely, will be too late..... You, and only you, have the ability to ensure our own survival. No one else can do it for you. Certainly NOT the government. Most of us are barely making it today, and things are just getting started.... What happens when times get hard? If, say on the next Monday morning, or as has been the most frequent of events:The next friday, (tomorrow!)..... There is a banking holiday, where ALL the banks close, you cannot get money, pay your bills or even to buy food...Let's say for instance that the ATM no longer is available! Your plastic becomes just that, and no longer is accepted by any machine, or gas pump! Then,.... what will you do? Do you now have a considerable backup of redily available cash? Say: $300-$500? What then? ( I know I don't, I spent mine as fast as it came in!) ( I won't even mention gold or silver, ok? I PROMISE!!!) Do you have all your bills paid up to date? Do you have enough food for evey person in your household to stay "comfortably fed" for 1 month?, 2 months?, 6 months? A year if needed? Few of us do! Not even I do! As was coined long ago: "Today is the first day, of the rest of your life"! and a fav: "Never put off today, what you think you have time to do tomorrow"! Please, get ready. Get your food, get some land, get your water, and get whatever you need, and do it NOW! I think we are about to see "a man made disaster" of Biblical proportions! ( and I'm hardly what you'd call a religious man!) Bill
Bill, I do not consider that a rant. It was a most excellent post! It should be read thru several times, taking notes by every Monkey. If you are not onboard with this stuff mentally, you are an idiot. I couldn't agree more. It should be a wake up call and a call to arms both.
I was concerned people would have thought I was going overboard! Not that it's unlikely today! I thank you Sir for the kind words! I only hope WE can support and help each other in what is becoming a frightening time in our lives..... I sincerly hope against all hope, we can get the younger generation to not necessarily join with us, but at least listen, to the message of true survival and what it takes!
Thankyou 'fly, I 've been sitting immobile on the fence on my ginder and bulk wheat purchases, Good incentive to spend that paper...
