We don't realize the devastation of droughts and famines in most of the world...we see it on TV pleas for charitable help. I can't imagine what it would be like to watch your children starve to death.
I often wonder what our big cities would become if food was not accessible and water became undrinkable, if there was no electricity for refrigerators and freezers and microwaves and stoves and ovens, if the lights suddenly went away for a very long time, if there was no heat or air conditioning, no washing machines, no dishwashers, no showers or baths, and no police to protect us at any level. What would we do if there was no money -- or nothing to buy with the money we have?
If we face a nuclear disaster, we can add radiation to that scene...and that means a lot of illness and death right away. There won't be a quick medical cure for radiation contamination.
If we don't have weapons to protect ourselves, how will we survive the mayhem that comes with serious, life-threatening, MAJOR disasters? We have been watching news stories recently about mobs that become violent, and how quickly some like to take advantage of social unrest to break into stores, cars, homes, and whatever they can to take what isn't theirs.
We have seen the immediate aftermath of earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, wars, and social upheavals, but then the news moves on to another event. What happens to those millions of people who are left to survive the horrors of their new lives? It isn't a part of our lives so we forget about it... or maybe we send some dollars to help and never hear about the corruption that eats it up and nothing gets to the poor, or the ones it was intended for.
In places where there are no morals, no standards of accountability, no public oversight, and no freedom, the ones who covet the lifestyle that wealth allows will take whatever they can and consider it their right.
Who is able to stop this crime, this extortion, this corruption, from happening in the middle of a national crisis?
We never think anything like this can happen in America, but look at Detroit, at Greece, and now at Puerto Rico. These are just the first dominoes to fall... what else will they cause to fall? I now live on Social Security Retirement Benefits and food stamps...both controlled by the government. Even if my online sales take off, in a crisis those income opportunities will go away.
How does an average citizen that depends on the government survive a monetary crisis, bankruptcy, economic disaster? When I see the news stories about countries that are operating by socialistic governmental systems and failing, I see the possible future for me, for America, and for millions of other people all over the globe.
I'm not sure how much preparation is enough,
but I am sure that doing nothing is not the right answer.
