I have seen some discussion recently about why preppers only prep for themselves and questioning why we all believe that in the event of a significant incident, and in particular in a SHTF situation, society will melt down and the only people we can trust are ourselves.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to come together and cope with the situation as a shared problem?  Humanity will win over any negativity and our shared effort will win the day… won’t it?  Is prepping selfish?

 

Quotes from the discussion:

Why not think of a strategy of rounding up everyone in the neighbourhood at a time of crisis and leading people into a support network. If resources are scarce, would not several people working together to find/collect water and find/share/produce food be much more productive?

It’s natural to feel protective and holier than thou because we had the forethought to stash some tins and have water filtration systems whilst the rest of the world did nothing. .. but even if you don’t give a shit about humanity, surely it makes sense in a disaster to rally people together rather than see everyone “else” as an enemy.

Why does a SHTF scenario have to end in people creating chaos and every man for himself. Why can’t it be the moment when we amaze each other with our compassion and humanity and we all survive together?

This is our World

In an ideal world this idea would win through.  People would pool their resources, their efforts and their abilities for the greater good.  We would all work together and for each other and good would prevail.

In an ideal world.

We do not remotely live in an ideal world and I believe it’s worsening rather than improving.   I See more and more instance of behavior which has crossed over from not caring about other people to being outright malicious towards them.  What use to be a “why don’t I have that” became “why should you have that” and quickly became “I’ll take that from you”.

I made a point when I started this blog of deciding who I was prepping for and at the end of the day it came down to just my wife and myself.  That was a considered decision and yes, it was partially selfish.  It is a clear them and us situation.  I am prepping for us, not them.  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t help anyone else but it would be on a case by case basis.  My own sense of right and wrong and my own instincts about individuals will guide that decision.

 

It Depends

This is one of the areas of prepping which significantly depends on what you are prepping for and what actually happens.  The basics we prep for are bad weather, power losses, loss of water supply, illness and so on.  In the event that a community was affected by an incident of this kind and it was just a matter of waiting it out as comfortably as possible, I believe most preppers would do what they could to help others in their shared experience.  One example is the motorists caught up in the recent bad weather and road accidents which resulted in some being stranded on motorways for hours.  Some local people ensured that those stranded were taken food and drink and even charging mobile phones so that they could stay in touch with family and friends.

For the purposes of this discussion, it would be a simple decision to help in such a situation because you have preps in place which can be shared in the short term and, importantly, your help cannot be abused.  A short-term situation does not give the significant rotten elements of our society time to work out how to make their life easier and better at your expense.  Cynical? Maybe in your version of this world, not in the one I see.

Contrast that to a more severe SHTF scenario resulting in some breakdown of our current society.  During and after the event(s), you have a reduced population with dwindling resources.  You, as a prepper have more than others.  You were prepared. You now have choices to make and risks to take:

 

  • Keep yourself to yourself

You batten down the hatches, take stock of your resources and secure others where available.  You share nothing and help no-one.

Benefits:  You can take care of yourself without the distraction and drain of others.  Your resources are quantifiable and will last the maximum amount of time.

Risks: You are at risk from anything where someone else may have been able to help you.  You aren’t helping others so you cannot expect their help.  You could become ill or injured and being part of a group might have meant someone was there to help. By sharing the effort, obtaining further resources may be easier. It may be impossible to obtain some things on your own.

 

  • Join everyone else

You join forces and resources with the community around you and try to rebuild together.

Benefits: You combine your resources and skills. The effort of rebuilding is shared and you have security of numbers.

Risks: As a prepper, the sharing will be significantly one way.  You have resources, skills and knowledge that most do not.  There will be numbers in your community that will contribute nothing.  There will be numbers in your community that will want to take all they can get at the expense of everyone else.  There is a risk you will be abused and will lose all of your preps.  The timespan of a SHTF scenario gives those elements of our society more time and opportunity to find the means to take from you and ultimately to do you harm.

 

  • Strategic alliances

You make individual choices about who you share resources, skills and knowledge with.  Using your instincts and awareness of people, you decide who can be trusted.  You do not share everything but join forces and/or assist each other when it is fair and beneficial to do so.

Benefits: You have more chance of survival when sharing to your long-term advantage.  Your alliances are with individuals you trust. Those who you can learn from and rely on in a mutually beneficial arrangement.  Security, acquiring resources and putting them to use all become easier.  You are less likely to be taken advantage of.

Risks: You are in a them and us environment.  Your numbers will be lower than other groups, although your resources and abilities may make up for the shortfall.  You still risk misjudging people and having trusted them, given them more opportunity to abuse that trust.

 

 

Is Prepping Selfish?

Is prepping selfish? No, not in itself.  To wish to prepare yourself so that you have the best possible chance in a number of situations is not selfish.  To not want to share that could carry a charge of being selfish. But if it is selfish to not give away what you have to those who do not have it then we are all already guilty to some degree. Prepping doesn’t change that.

Do I think I am selfish? Yes, a little, to put it bluntly.  I see the world around me and whilst it contains a great deal of good, there is far too much hostility and hatred for me to ignore.  To be ambivalent or ignorant of your fellow man is one thing.  We are all entitled to go about our lives individually, unaware of others as long as we do them no harm.  But to go out of your way to be awkward, aggressive or harmful to them, as we see on a rising scale daily is unacceptable and unfortunately the growing truth about society.

To believe that society would come together for the greater good is naïve in the extreme.  Some elements of society would. But should there be a scarcity of essential resources, the remainder of the underbelly of our current society would rise in strength and numbers and rebuilding a community would be a perilous affair.  There would be too many takers and non-contributors for the providers to keep.  There is a reason there is more dystopian fiction than utopian.  Look around the world today and in recent history and see which is more likely.

I have no desire to take from anyone else but I have an increasing desire to avoid being taken from.  My growing discomfort with the world we live in and the risks we are living with prompted my prepping and the development of ‘When the Fires Burn’. My decision at the start was to only prep for myself and my wife. Once you widen that view, you quickly find yourself at the top of a growing triangle of dependents and cannot hope to prep for them single-handedly.

None of this means I would abandon everyone to save myself.  Far from it.  I would help anyone out as long as it did not expose or deplete my preps.  Once what you have becomes common knowledge, you can count the days before someone will take it from you.  Sadly, they won’t care what harm they do to you in the process.  I would, however, put myself in the strategic alliance camp whereby I would hope to find people who I can reach a mutual trust with.

There is strength in numbers but I want to pick those numbers!