A Well Prepped Society?

Just the other day I was talking with a friend about this country’s sudden fascination with Prepping. Perhaps it’s all the hype around the Mayan calendar and fears of a 2012 TEOTWAWKI scenario. The new television shows such as Doomsday Preppers and Doomsday Bunkers have certainly caused quite a buzz. Or maybe it’s just people waking up to the state of the world economy, our near total reliance on technology and electric power, and the absolutely crazy weather patterns we’ve seen lately that are causing tons of damage. Whatever it is, the average person is at least aware of the movement and lots of people are taking things seriously enough to make at least basic preparations of their own.

Now imagine if everyone in the country was at least moderately well prepared to ride out a short to mid-term disaster. So maybe “everyone” is a bit of a stretch but what if 75% of the population was well prepared? How would that change the way the people involved would react to the situation and the way the authorities would respond? I think it would be a massive benefit to our entire society.

First of all, if most people are prepared then they’re in a pretty good position to help those who are not and this would very likely curb the civil unrest that many expect to follow an event. Rather than having a run on food stores followed by rioting and looting, we would see a much calmer response. A prepared population is a reasonable population.

With a relatively orderly society still in place police, firefighters, and health care workers would be able to continue to show up for work without worrying about the safety of their immediate families. When those responsible for keeping ordinary citizens safe can no longer feel comfortable leaving their loved ones and showing up to do their jobs a downward spiral begins that makes any level of disaster exponentially worse. With most of the population prepared to be self-sufficient for a time these critical workers are free to continue to do their jobs and keep order in society.

Similarly you would see truck drivers, power plant workers, sanitation workers, and all the other people that this country needs to show up for work every day to get things back under control able to do so. Food deliveries could continue, power grids could be brought back on line, trash would be taken away and disease wouldn’t spread. Life goes on as close to normal as possible. The more people regard their communities as stable, the more likely they are to carry on with the day-to-day responsibilities that will Keep their communities stable and safe. On the other hand if the majority of people feel it’s time to Get Out Of Dodge then you will see wholesale collapse and a very long road to recovery.

So is this sudden fascination with Prepping a good thing? Could it eventually have a positive impact on our society as a whole? Or will too many people sit back and criticize us while failing to make even basic preparations for their own safety and security thereby endangering everyone around them?

Prepping for yourself and your family in a Prudent and Reasonable way makes perfect sense and is fairly easy to do. Getting millions of people around the country to follow suit would make every individual safer but I fear getting our message accepted could be all but impossible. All we can do is spread the word, try to make prepping more mainstream, and continue to do our part.

~ Butch