Why be a Prepper? One Explanation Out of Many.
What makes someone a Prepper?
A few comments from the Internet:
“A prepper is someone who is uncomfortable relying on others for the basics of survival and protection.”
“A Prepper is a person who takes Personal Responsibility and Self Reliance seriously.”
“A Prepper is an individual or group that prepares or makes preparations in advance of, or prior to, any change in normal circumstances or lifestyle without significant reliance on other persons (i.e., being self-reliant), or without substantial assistance from outside resources (govt., etc.) in order to minimize the effects of that change on their current lifestyle.”
“…most of us are prepping in order to become more self-sufficient … for whatever reason.”
“…different folks are going to focus on different things. The common thread though is that all preppers are concerned citizens and they are all preparing for something…”
A Prepper, it would seem, is a person who is preparing for some event in the future, or perhaps even some event that is taking place right now. I know some would find the word “fear” distasteful, but that is the heart of the matter. We all have fears. Some of them are reasonable, and some of them are not.
Is it “reasonable” to prepare yourself for obviously foreseeable “reasonable” risks? Well only a fool would say no to that, but sadly many do.
What about preparing for risks that may be less likely, less “reasonable”? Preppers would respond that being prepared is a good thing, even if the likelihood of something happening is slim. The process of preparing for one risk will most likely make you more prepared to respond effectively to other risk.
But at what point does preparing for an “unreasonable” risk distract you from preparing for other more “likely” risks?
Several years ago I started Prepper International to try to sort these things out (prepperinternational.com). My initial concern was less about preparing for natural and man-made disasters, and more about the slow yet consistent political crisis taking place in the USA and other “Free World Countries”. Although I appreciate the importance of being prepared in the event of some natural disaster, I am more concerned about being prepared for a political disaster. A disaster that is not in the future, but one that has been slowly taking place over the last fifty years, and which may very well get worse in the future. Much worse.
My fears are that political and social changes will take place that will require more than a bug-out bag with 72 hours of supplies, more than a pre-arranged safe haven within a few hours of our homes, and more than a hidden bunker in the countryside where we can escape and ride-out the crisis.
I fear that the USA and other Western countries may possibly become unsafe for those who love and demand liberty for themselves and their families.
Is this a “reasonable” fear? What is the likelihood of the USA becoming a tyrannical nation that oppresses its own people? Denying its own people justice? Robbing its own people of their property? Depriving its own people of their Rights?
Some would say that these are ridiculous fears. Others would say they have already become reality, and we have simply not opened our eyes to recognize the fact. Yet others would take the middle ground: it is a possibility, but not yet a reality.
If you are one of the people who believes that these fears are legitimate to one degree or another, what are you doing to prepare? What good is a bug-out bag if there is nowhere to go? What good is a safe-haven if your enemy has the resources to hunt you down and root you out? What if there is no place to go that is safe and secure inside your own country?
The simple answer is that you are going to need to be prepared to leave the country. Where are you going to go? Are your financial resources going to be safe?
Are you prepared?
