08:37 – Barbara was watching an episode of Chicago Fire last night when the crew was called to a site where a house had collapsed from the weight of stuff a hoarder had collected. I expected her to make a snide remark about hoarding, and she didn’t disappoint me. I pointed out that I wasn’t a hoarder. Hoarders are mentally ill, and collect massive amounts of random junk like old newspapers and magazines that are of no possible future use. Preppers collect a careful selection of stuff that’s always useful and may at some point become essential. Granted, someone who saw my collection of several yard waste bags full of empty soda bottles might confuse me with a hoarder, but I’m keeping those for a very specific purpose: storing food and water.
Not, as I’ve said many times, that I’m really expecting a catastrophic event like an EMP attack or a killer pandemic or widespread severe civil unrest. But the chances of such a catastrophic event are high enough that anyone with any sense of history and self-preservation understands that it makes sense to be as prepared as possible to deal with such events.
I’m not obsessed with prepping. I’m not going to go out and convert everything we own to cash and then buy silver and gold, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, and a 50 year supply of food. Nor, like some serious preppers, am I actually secretly hoping that an apocalypse occurs. I’ve read enough history to know how bad things can get and how badly even well-prepared people will suffer if the SHTF. Like most people, all I want is a comfortable, boring life. I can do without the excitement of a catastrophe. The only difference is that I recognize that there’s a reasonably high probability that we will suffer such a catastrophe, and I want to be as ready as possible to ride it out.