Bug out or Stay CONT # 2
 

Bug Out or Stay Part # 2



This is an eternal debate in my mind -- in a real widespread disaster,
> is it safer to be in the country, because few will make it out of the
> cities, or will nearly EVERYONE flee the cities and deluge what was once
> sparsely-populated country, overtaking the self-sufficient and prepared?
> Even in the best "I'll defend my own" scenarios, you can only defend
> against so many for so long.
>
> Thoughts?
>
>

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Actually, the best thought out of the scenarios has the individual neither a
loner, out in the wilderness by themselves, or among the masses that might
be fleeing or slowly starving to death in the metropolitian areas - nor as a
part of some sort of a survival commune dug into the hills - but as a well
knit community capable of taking care of one another - and any problems that
they might face as a result of the actions of others.

Such a well prepared community shouldn't have much of a problem defending
against those who are unorganized and ill prepared to do them harm, as the
usual response to any organized restistance would be to simply move on down
the line and find some hapless individual attempting to hold out against a
superior number.

Now, as to where such a well organized community might exist is an entirely
different situation - anybody that knows isn't telling - and are better off
not letting those that do not know in on their secret.

At this point, one begins to realize the importance of the family unit, the
extended family, having good neighbors, and good communities. As we simply
can't just "go live somewhere" and let everybody else do all of the work
when it comes to being involved with civil activities to some degree or
another.

You can build such a community right where you are by becoming a leader in
some aspect of preparedness - there is everything from the home town
National Guard to Disaster Relief organizations and other activities to
participate in that help "grow" a community into an interdependent yet self
reliant group.

We talk alot about "food storage" as LDS, and we try to teach it in our own
wards - better still, get organized and throw the doors open to the public
to participate in these same kind of activities - share what you know with
others and at the same time have the opportunity to meet other like minded
individuals in your own community.

Not surprisingly, one of the best of all of the LDS "Preparedness Seminars"
I have ever attended was not in the city, but in a small ward in a rural
community about twenty miles from the city. Guess why? Because all of the
brothers and sisters were actually a part of what was going on - and most
of them were largely self sufficient to begin with as a matter of routine
because of the way they were living. The wife had a passel of kids, stayed
home, cooked and baked and canned and sewed clothing and did all sorts of
neat things. The husband likely worked a regular job somewhere, but also
kept animals and tended a garden space and hunted and fished on the side.

And guess what else - though often separated by a mile or two, these same
families all went to church together, went to the same Friday night football
game at the High School, voted in the same elections for city, county and
state officials to represent them and were very cohesive in every way.

As you can see, all of this kind of thing that makes people interdependent,
yet self reliant, is likely to work best in a small community atmosphere,
just as previously described.

Attaining this status is something else. For some people this might mean a
change in living space - but then this has always been a premise of
preparedness - knowing that we need to "be where we need to be long before
anything happens." You need to be settled in and an accepted part of such a
community in order to be able to beneift from it in return instead of being
regarded as an outsider.

Such a meaningful undertaking would represent the largest migration since
just after WWII, when men returning home from the service decided to go to
college and seek jobs in business and industry and the balance of population
suddenly shifted from farms and small rural communites to the large city
populations that most of us are familiar with today.

In one respect anyone desiring to "reverse the trend" and go back to the
farm and rural communities today is likely to find it to their advantage, at
least in certian areas of the nation where people have given up and moved
out where farming is no longer a profitable personal living and small cities
are drifting towards extinction.

In some cases that I personally know of, the only inhabitants left are the
"old folks" that are not interested in changing their life styles and are
content to sell the farm out in the country, move into a little home in the
neighboring town and sit on the front porch in their rocker until they die.
You will have to do your own research to find these places, but I assure
you, they do exist and likely many of you know already know the type of
community I am talking about.

Question is, do you really want to move there ? That's something that
nobody can answer but yourself. To me, having an old fashioned country
place on the outskits of town of some five or ten acres or more, or one of
those little in-town residences with the large lawn and garden space would
be rolling the clock back to where I once knew how to live a life among a
community of people wherein I actually knew the names of our neighbors and
could count on them anytime they were needed and vice versa.

Might such a community "get hit" in some scenarios ? - undoubtedly - but
its also most likely to recover and survive....just as they survive and
rebuild after other disasters that often befall them.

The only other alternative that I have ever found suitable is to maintain
two residences. The one you are currently living in, and one that you have
obtained specifically for the purpose of retreat ... such as a small summer
home in an equally small mountain community, etc. Check the local
newspapers in such areas for real estate deals. A little innner city home
with garden space, such as I described is not what those who ordinarily
"retire to the mountians" (meaning to those new prefabricated log cabins in
mountian property land development schemes, etc.) are looking for - but such
a modest place may well be ideal as a retreat and much easier on the pocket
book if you had to take it on a mortgae.

Its something that takes a lot of thinking about before you committ to
making a major change in your life. Sort of reveals to ourselves exactly
how committed we are towards this propostion of survival/self sufficiency.