Why are more than 90% of Americans not prepared to survive? The short answer would be that they were not taught or trained how to survive in harsh conditions. Then why not?
When was the last time you had to drill in the woods for your next meal or wash your clothes in a nearby stream? How many Americans rely solely on wood to heat their homes and cook, or get by without electricity, refrigeration, or freezers?
How many Americans have starved to death as a result of severe winters or prolonged droughts? When was the last time you heard that a group of 86 people traveling to California got caught in a severe snow storm and only 41 survived by eating the frozen dead?
The early settlers always ventured out in large groups known as “caravans,” made up of immigrants of all ages and walks of life. These pioneer groups were basically a microcosm of a modern neighborhood community, but with one big difference. These people were forced to get to know each other, work together, and needed to be able to trust and depend on each other for their collective survival.
Unlike modern society, the pioneers and settlers had no choice but to be self-sufficient and totally dependent on each other’s gifts, talents, ingenuity, and especially their individual strengths and faith.
The land was rarely kind or cooperative and they faced life-threatening challenges from both weather and terrain. But they faced it together as a community or, so to speak, as a mobile neighborhood.
Unlike modern neighbors, these people worked together, fought marauders together, cried and laughed together, forged raging rivers, scaled rugged mountains, and crossed scorching deserts together. Donner’s group ended up getting lost and could only travel a mile a day cutting their own way through the Sierra mountains, falling behind with the winter that overtook them. Even then, they were still together.
Pioneer women learned to provide their own household items. There was no Vons, Kroger’s, Costco’s, IGA or Walmart… Guess what… not even a 7-11. They had to learn to be creative and make what they needed from their environment: dried gourds for containers, carved wooden kitchen utensils, soap made from lard or fat, or a cradle from a hollowed-out log. Even their clothes were made from tanned animal skins; Davy Crockett even had a hat made out of a slow raccoon…
The food was no different, it also came from the land, not from the supermarket. They ate what could be gathered, grown, and harvested, or pursued, caught, or shot. Winters would force neighbors to get together and share their tents or recently caught game. Since winter meals consisted mainly of corn and dried or fresh game, they eagerly awaited spring for fresh wild berries and edible plants.
Chances are, we all have a cordial relationship with two or three neighbors, and in desperate times we may know them well enough to borrow a couple of eggs or a cup of sugar, or even a lawnmower. But we’re not likely to ask a neighbor for some embers to light our fire, or an ax to chop wood for warmth or to share their winter meal, since a family of black bears barged in and ate it all.
Health was always a major concern, because prolonged illness meant losing precious time hunting, gathering, and preparing for ongoing survival needs. They had no pharmacies with cough syrup or aspirin or hospitals, much less an ambulance to take you.
Need to send a message to a friend? Put on your hiking boots or get on your mule… no cell phones, email or text messages, faxes or telegrams. Can you imagine if Pony Express mail delivery was our only option to deliver a message, through severe or stormy weather, bandits, lame horse or broken saddle?
In a recent national survey, it was found that few Americans have food or water storage in case of a disaster or emergency. How many children today are taught the skill of how to plant and harvest a garden, let alone preserve the harvest through canning or dehydration? Thousands more would have perished during the 1929-33 Dust Bowl/Great Depression were it not for the fact that they were children and grandchildren of American pioneers and were taught to plan and prepare for disasters or emergencies.
Although pioneer families were extremely resourceful and almost self-sufficient, neighbors were highly valued on the frontier, unlike most neighborhoods today. Like I said, most Americans don’t even know most of their neighbors, let alone work together in a close-knit community. In a pioneer community, if a family was in need, neighbors from miles away would rush to help in whatever capacity they could. Pioneer neighborhoods would even band together to help a newcomer build a cabin or a neighbor harvest their crop.
They would transform these events into a celebration of life and new beginnings with a lavish banquet. The true expression of community was evident everywhere, with men working, women preparing food, tending to babies, and neighborhood children playing together, inventing new games. Can you imagine any of these or similar activities in today’s cities or urban communities? For pioneers and settlers, it was the norm.
Today’s societies are fractured, dysfunctional and antisocial, fast-paced, selfless and self-centered. As a result of neighbors becoming disassociated and isolating themselves from each other, it becomes “for every man for himself” in the event of a disaster or emergency and it becomes easier for neighbors to eventually turn against each other, instead of working together. Coupled with the fact that most Americans are unprepared for a disaster within our dense urban populations, only havoc and chaos can ensue. Without a cohesive and well-organized community, the result is that everyone struggles for himself and the fittest or most prepared survive. In most disasters, neighbors kill neighbors for a myriad of reasons. Would any neighbor kill another if that neighbor helped build his house or helped him cut firewood for the winter?
Another major reason Americans aren’t prepared is because they don’t think anything bad is going to happen. Most Americans have never experienced a major disaster that interrupted life as they know it for an extended period of time, such as the crash of the dollar, EMP, a major earthquake, or a pandemic. People get distracted in a major way, trying to make a living and paying taxes, and spending the rest of their time entertaining themselves with everything from sports and movies to parties, bars and hobbies.
People are so preoccupied with themselves that they can no longer just drive from one place to another without talking on a cell phone, texting, or listening to the radio or stereo. It’s as if Americans no longer have quiet time to simply think about anything because their brains are preoccupied with music and the imputed chatter of a myriad of electronic devices. Americans are truly lost and alone in more ways than one, and therefore they will definitely be lost, helpless, and vulnerable in a major disaster or catastrophe.
Watch the National Geographic movie “After Armageddon” and ask yourself what you would do in the same circumstances… you’ll find yourself and your family shifting gears in an attempt to be fully prepared.
