Prepping for emergencies – or not?
I hope I misread this post… “I do not worry about or prepare for an emergency.” Really? Then what are you prepping for? Here is the full quote some more to provide context:
The word “emergency” was first known and used circa 1631 and is defined as follows:
1: an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action
2: an urgent need for assistance or relief the mayor declared a state of emergency after the flood
We, the happy members of “the never well united and non-governmental superior order of universal disaster response practitioners”, are proud to be recognized as “ the perpetually persistent preppers, or the “three peas in the prepper pod”. However, we are also very often guilty of preparing for the wrong event, at the wrong time, with the wrong intents, and finally with the wrong tools.
I do not worry about or prepare for an emergency. Never. Because we have town people who are our local professionals, and they are well trained for almost every type of emergency anyone could ever think of. We know them personally.
Please look at and then think carefully about the dictionary language concerning the word “emergency” shown above from an analytical or usage viewpoint, as is often used by your good buddy, myself, Old Bobbert.
So if I’m not misreading this, an emergency is something unforeseen that requires immediate action or assistance. OK. And we’re NOT supposed to prepare for those things?
I can think of at least a few things that, if they happened to my family, would be “unforeseen.” At the same time, I need to be prepared in case they DO happen.
For example, a house fire. In 53 years, I’ve never experienced a house fire, and they’ve been extremely rare wherever I’ve lived. Would that qualify them as “unforeseen”? I say yes. At the same time, as rare as they are, there are common sense steps I take (aka “prepping”) in the extremely unlikely event that my house catches on fire. I have smoke detectors and I check them regularly to make sure they work. I have a family evacuation plan in case the house catches on fire. I have another plan to go back in to look for family members if I don’t find them outside. REALLY important stuff is in a place I can easily grab on the way out the door. Less important stuff is in a fireproof safe.
Are doing these things a bad idea? Should I have saved the money I spent on the safe and the time I spend prepping my family in case we have a house fire? After all, I could just call 911 and wait for the highly trained professionals to take care of it.
What about a home invasion? Should I prepare for that, or just call 911 if it happens and hope the police show up in time to prevent any violence against my family? I don’t think I’m in danger of losing my job, but what happens if I do? Should I hope my friends and family take care of me, should I demand that government take care of me, or should I do things NOW to prepare for the possibility of a job loss?
What really bugs me about the post is I’ve read other things by Old Bobbert, and usually they contain a lot of common sense. Not this one though. The irony is, with the exception of the great depression America has never gone through a TEOTWAWKI situation. People constantly have little and big emergencies in their lives though, and this guy is telling us NOT to prepare for those. Just prep for something that has happened only once in the history of our nation.
Yep, sure. I like the author and I like the site he posted on. I hope I misread what he was trying to say.
Peace out,
porcupine