I think it prudent to talk about familyism at this point. The nuclear family is Pa and Ma and the kids. With a survival group it is the same way only bigger. More people involved. It is sorta like sitting down to dinner with with 50 people at a picnic table. It has to be a long picnic table!
Familyism is set up much like a Patriarchy. The men are in charge of survival. They do the heavy work and the defense of the group. Not that women can't help in defense, because they damn sure can, but there are other responsibilites for women to handle. More than likely they will have childen to look after. And they will have meals to cook. They will have medical attention to provide for those who have been hurt. They will also take care of sanitation, one of the foundation stones of survival. In times of trouble it will not be like women are sitting around eating bon-bons and drinking wine and reading french novels. They will have a hand in survival as important as the men. It will be a different role but it will be extremely important. Women are a major part of the family, a part of the Patriarchy. And while they don't run the operation, you can bet your ass that their ideas are gotten across to one and all.
I remember as a child reading the diary of a pioneer woman in Kansas. It was way early in the history of this country. She lived in a sod house and her husband farmed. Life was pretty hard. But her diary told of getting up one morning and cleaning the house, fixing everyone's breakfast, doing a weeks washing, baking a weeks supply of bread and then delivering herself of her 8th child. That woman could have served in my army any where she wanted! She was definitely a force to be reckoned with. You talk about being a pillar of the family! My God. I would dearly love to talk to her for a week or so, at one sitting.
I mentioned earlier that when the bonbs drop we will go back to the 1840's again. When technology is gone, the division of labor will be more clearly defined. It will be more simplistic. These days it doen't matter so much whose fingers are hitting the keyboard. But walking behind a horse or a mule and plowing 40 acres will define a work area pretty well. I ain't saying a woman can't do that, but I am saying a man might have trouble nursing a child while she did! Women are survivors. And if men will not cut the mustard a woman will rise up and do it. And don't think for a moment that they won't.
Everyone pitches in on survivalism when called upon. It just has to be that way for everyone to stay alive. The extended family is the basic root of familyism. Dads and Moms and Uncles and
Aunts and Grandfolks are all part of the mix. They become a Super Dad and Super Mom to all the kids. Everyone looks out for the kids. Everyone sees to it the kids get fed and taken care of. The children are the future. They are who we work for all those long days. And all that work serves to keep us out of the bars and whorehouses. It keeps us strong and we like being strong. That work keeps our storehouses full and our buildings in good shape. It keeps our clothes mended and our dishes cleaned. It keeps our horses hooves trimmed and clean. It keeps our cattle watered and our chickens protected. In short, it keeps the survival machine in good running order. Ain't nothing like success.
I mentioned earlier about that 50 foot picnic table. That is a symbol of familyism and Patriarchy all rolled into one. The head man sits at the head of the table. His men, the men of the group, sit down the sides from him in order of age or seniority. The women sit at the middle of the table and the kids sit at the other end. Everybody sees what everybody else is eating. There is no Big "I", little you at the communal table. Everybody talks but the kids are cautioned to keep the noise down. Things are discussed and assigned at the table, from one end of the table to the other. It is just like a nuclear family only bigger. But you will discover that eating together is a very important part of familyism. If you have to go away it is the first thing you will miss.
There will be so much work to do that a lot of dissension will just go by the wayside. Folks will get the understanding of survival and just get the work done and over with. The strength of the group will surface and become known to all. The real workers and producers will have the approval of everyone. "Production talks and bullshit walks" will describe the thinking of the survivors. And everyone will be important, from the most skilled technician to the newest born babe.
And this is my summary of familyism. It is no despotic set up, no tyranny toward any member of the human family. It is a plan to establish some decency and goodness and order within the human family. "It's gonna take people, people like you and me. Mothers and Dads, Uncles and Aunts, just the whole human family."
EXTRA KIDS
I feel that the next world war will leave a lot of little kids homeless and parentless and hungry. They will wander the face of the earth, looking for something to eat and a friendly voice to listen to. We must take care of these kids. They need the milk of human kindness to nourish them. They need clean clothes and a hot meal. They need to learn to read and write. They need to learn to bathe and properly tend to themselves. They need a place to garner the experience of life and growing up. They need a voice of congratulations when they have done well. They need a voice of encouragement when the have come short of the mark. They need Pa and Ma to tell them stories of how it was and how it can be. They need to learn to do simple chores like weeding the garden and gathering the eggs. They don't need 8 or 10 hour shifts unless it is an emergency. And hour or two pulling weeds will suffice. Hell, if you have enough kids that should take care of the garden if done 5 days a week.
These kids need to eat at the common table like the rest of us. They need to feel like they belong. And they do belong. They, along with your own flesh children, will provide the food you will eat when you get older. They will grow up to defend the home. And they will do all of these things as long as they feel like they belong, as though they feel the ownership of the place. Yes, that's what I said. OWNERSHIP. Something that is lacking in our society any more. No one feels like anything is theirs anymore. The land ain't theirs, it belongs to the wealthy man. The school ain't theirs, it belongs to the government. The church ain't theirs, it belongs to the preacher who gets up behind the PULL PIT and harangues the crowd every Sunday. Kids soon learn that Dad and Mom don't really own the house, the Bank really owns it and Dad and Mom must pay a lot of money every month to live there. Kids have to be given the feeling that the home is theirs. How else will they ever get the natural feeling to take care of it? It can't be like a foster home or an orphanage or a boy or girls school. For the child to develop properly it has to be THEIR HOME. They won't mind sharing it because everyone else shares it, but they want it to be THEIRS. They want as much right to be there as anyone else. And you have to provide this for them. You have to provide the basis for their maturity and development. All kids get to go up to the head man and tell him their tale. All kids get to go to a woman and expect to be mothered if needed. It will be a big job but it will pay dividends down through the ages. And those little orphan kids will need all the love they can get.
EDUCATION
I am for all the education we can get. I think that every child can learn to read and write and do a little arithmetic, at the least. Some children will not learn too quickly in life. Their minds just don't wake up until it is time according to their genetics. I knew boy who essentially slept his first 14 years. He was not interested in anything but hunting and fishing and trapping and being with his buddies. Then one day he woke up and decided he wanted to learn, and learn he did. From spending his time in class with his head on his desk asleep he went to reading and writing and getting his lessons. And it turns out he was smart. He got his GED and went to Purdue University and graduated from their Forestry School and today runs a multi-million dollar logging business. He got a GED because he went to our Freedom School and the state will not accreddit it. Some kids will want to apprentice into a trade. And that is fine. Any technical skills that you can develop in your midst will only strengthen you. You will find your blacksmith to be a very important member of your community.
There will be attempts to rebuild technology after the wars. But the means to do so will continue to dwindle in volume over the coming years. We will run out of iron ore and copper and lead and the ability to refine aluminum out of bauxite. We will eventually find ourselves in a Wood Age. The trees will keep on growing. The area of keen interst to humanity will be keeping track of what is importaant at any given time. Knowing the future needs of your people will be a must for any man or woman. If you can scan the future you can be ready for what is coming. And if you know what is coming you can stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
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