The Self Reliance Spectrum: More Thoughts

My last post came about because I’ve been thinking about the “spectrum” of self reliance. It amused me to post the video of the girl who thought Obama would fill her car with gas. Then I realized she lives in the same world as some of my readers who (wisely and impressively) grow heirloom crops. She thinks the president has a “Bureau of Filling Cars With Gas” while others gather their own seeds from their own crops. Meanwhile, I have twelve cans of peanut butter but I’m running out of firewood.

That’s a huge spectrum to be acknowledged. Folks seem to think “prepping”* is either yes or no; but it’s nothing of the sort.

This is exacerbated by “prepping media” which emphasizes the extreme over the mundane (as do enthusiasts in any hobby). Someone will always bitch about any level of anything as “inadequate”. Here are a few samples I’m sure you’ve heard: “If you carry a .22 for self defense you’re almost certainly screwed.” “If you don’t own a lifted Jeep with a winch you can never bug out.” “If you haven’t EMP proofed your Jeep while carrying nothing less than a .45 with a backup AR and twenty loaded mags, you’re zombie meat.”

I figure if you get shot with a .22 it’ll still hurt like hell. Unless you’re on the Chuck Norris side of things any firearm hits harder than a punch. Sure, a .45 is better than a .22 but anything is something. My cheap squirrel hunting 20 gauge fits somewhere in there. Nobody would recommend it as perfect for home defense but I damn sure wouldn’t want to be in front of it. For that matter if someone bails in a Toyota Camry all that really matters is if it works. If they watch the tsunami on TV from 100 miles inland, I guess they successfully bailed out. It’s important to avoid perfect becoming the enemy of “making good progress in the right direction”.

Failing to see a spectrum is a weakness to which I am prone. For example, in 2022 I cut less firewood than I wanted. Now, in the coldest winter months, I’m running low. There’s no surprise in that; ant and grasshopper y’all. But it still sucks. (Relax, I’ve got a furnace too.)

I could fret that I, like Germany, allowed myself to become dependent on oil. I could fret that (predictably!) the cost doubled or tripled after certain events in early 2021. But what good would that do?

I should focus on the positive. I should shrug and be happy that I cut 60% or 80% percent of what I needed. Less than I wanted, more than most.

So what does “more than most” really mean?

Bad question! Trying to find out sent me down the rabbit hole. I tried to think how many people are 100% dependent for their heating (or in warm climates cooling)? Or 100% dependent for food? Or struggling paycheck to paycheck? And for that matter isn’t “paycheck to paycheck” elevated self-reliance compared to “EBT to EBT”?

I started playing with numbers and just plain gave up. I’ve sought (to varying degrees of success) self-reliance so much and so long I’ve lost touch with how utterly dependent most people really are. I can’t quite picture a “normal person” anymore. How are they still alive?

Is this why they were fighting over toilet paper in the first week of Covid? Is this why they signal group affiliation on F***book as if their life depended on group membership? Is this why people act so… for want of a better word… stampede prone?

I don’t have any answers. I just got sucked into this line of reasoning and decided to share.

A.C.

*I hate the term “prepping”. Newspeak couldn’t hack the manly stoic term “survivalist” and sought a lame, gutless, alternative. “Prepping” sounds like something you can do from your couch. “Survivalist” sounds like someone who actually does leg day. Since our language is as manipulated as our media they gradually associated “survivalist” with someone running around the forest re-enacting Rambo… which wasn’t the original intent. I tend to settle on “homesteading” but what do I know?