I realize prepping isn’t glamorous and it makes us think about unpleasant scenarios that we would rather keep tucked in the back of our brains. After all, ignorance is beautiful bliss. With the current world climate and increased potential for disasters hitting closer to home, preppers may need to dip into their supplies. Thanks to massive inflation, supply chain issues or something more catastrophic such as war being prepared is more important now than ever.
I recently told a coworker that my boyfriend and I were preppers. I don’t normally tell anyone that I prep, but since we are relocating I wanted to get her reaction. She proceeded to say that her neighbor was a prepper and that she would just go to their house as they had everything. This proclamation has stuck with me for weeks now. Unprepared people do not realize how dangerous this way of thinking is. They don’t realize how much time, effort and planning has gone into preparing for a SHTF situation and that that planning has been for a certain amount of people. The financial investment into prepping is also another consideration. This scenario reminds me of the story titled The Little Red Hen. The hen decides to grow her own wheat, harvest the wheat and mill the wheat to make some bread. During each step she asks her barnyard friends if they could help and each of them is too busy and declines. When it comes time to partake in the delicious bread that she made they expect her to share and do not see why she should not. Unprepared people, like my coworker, expect to partake in the fruits of her neighbors labor without contribution. Now maybe my coworker will have something to contribute and her and the neighbor have an agreement but I doubt it.
When times get tough the prepared neighbor will have a decision to make. Will they support the unprepared neighbor or So as a prepper I am asking you, what will you do when neighbors come calling? My significant other and I have talked about this issue on several occasions. Several attempts to talk with friends and family members about preparedness have unfortunately fallen on deaf ears most of the time. I have managed to get some to buy extra canned goods after several talks but that is the extent of it. So when the time comes I guess we will have to decide what we can do to help.
If you are one of the unprepared please heed this as a extremely strong suggestion to get yourself prepared and to not rely on anyone in the event things are not normal. Stay safe!
Maine Prepper Girl
