RESPONSIBILTY

I'm ready to blog. Those four pieces I put up yesterday were very good and I don't know if I can match them for informational content, but I will try. It's just that some days you hit the jackpot and some days you are just a regular better trying not to lose.



What ever the case, you wil find that one of these days you will be responsible for your own life and the continuity thereof. Now days your heavy drama is how to spend your Christmas Bonus or your tax return refund money. Nothing too heavy there. It's second nature to an American to know how to spend money. We are trained in it from the first time we can understand what is being said on the television. Buy. Spend. Consume. And right over here we have the new... The endless rant of advertisers trying to get us to part with our money. Oh yes. Americans know how to spend money.



But soon cometh the day of valueless money and what are you going to do? You can no longer discharge a responsibility by writing a check and going back to your TV for your normal time waste. If there is something you want to do or something you want to have then you will have to make it or barter for it. Things will have changed. The power of the purse will no longer rule the scene. Your skills and ingenuity will have to come to the fore. The fixit guys will no longer be standing by the phones waiting to answer your call. And the phones might not work anyhow. The fixers will be busy trying to keep their own act together. They will be guarding against looters. They will be planting their own gardens and keeping thieves and critters from taking it. So we get down to the bare facts of life here and decide what we need, what is doable, what is practical.



Maybe the discussion comes around to the kid's education. They need a school. After much consideration involving time and materials and labor and manpower it is concluded that the kitchen table will do as the new school and to hell with the problems of constructing one. See how things can get solved in a simple and rapid manner when there is not a school board to contend with? One of the myths of society is efficiency in numbers. We who live and work in this so called efficient society know that is a crock of (censored). In a more primative society the division of labor is generally quite distinct and decisions as to how things will be handled can be concluded very quickly by those who will perform the labor. All these mega-cities will be flushed down the drain as unwieldy and unworkable. All those millions of people who think they are supported by the huge populace surrounding them will be in for a shock when they find that their cohorts are idiots. And idiots can get you killed. Idiots can block you from getting out of town. My mentor tthought that 250 people would be about the maximum size of a community in the future. There may be a few large cities but they will be ruled by kings who have large armies that will protect for miles in any direction. You will be taxed some food or some firewood for their support. They will do the rest as they will have a large labor force. They will be efficient.



But our little band of survivors, who started out more like pioneers, will be doing okay. I am an advocate of getting out of town and an advocate of group survival. If you get out of town you might be surprised at the good people who come your way looking for a place of sanctuary. And that is why you are out there, is it not? You will need be very carefull as to who you accept as your neighbor but it can be worked out in a profitable manner. Just keep everyone working and busy. Keep that food supply growing. Keep the water running. If you can get a supply of animals for breeding, take care of them. A couple of sausage patties represent a whole bunch of rice and beans. If you have been smart and grown some sage and some peppers you can even make it taste really fine.



You can start out with the basic premise that 50% of your labor force will be uitilized in food production. This ranges from your basic garden weeder to your horse trainer and your harness maker. It will include your food dryers ands your storage people. It is no wonder I would allocate 50% of the work force to food production. So important, so necessary to holding the thing together.



The other 50% of your work force will be utilized in defense/security. Defense will be having guards posted 24 hours a day, every day. Defense will be having you militia ready to go at any time. It will entail prearranged defense points in every direction. It will entail being able to signal the group to sound the alarm and bring reinforcements. It will entail a fire watch and rescue effort. It will entail a building crew for new homes and barns and public buildings. It would include a firewood program for your Winter security. People will be busy. They will have to be busy in order to eat and be able to sleep at night with a measure of confidene in waking up in the morning.



Americans are a very secure people. Their minds are conditioned to it. I do not think they even realize how confident they are in their security. No one even worries about their electricity. It will be taken care of. No one even thinks about the phone system. "They" will take care of it. The water will flow through the pipes alright. The commode will flush and the shower will work. The hot water heater is eternal isn't it? No one even worries about having firefighters on hand to handle their calamities. And we all know the police will sweep up the bad guys. The car or truck will work fine in the morning. We are protected by our insurance policies as we go about living. Our bank account is assured by the FDIC. The state and county will repair our roads and bridges. We don't worry about these things. We have relinquished responsibilty for all for this stuff. We are not responsible anymore. Some (censored) government or utility company will handle it. We pay our taxes amd our fees to afford this laxity in our preparedness. But the possibility of calamity is always present. A major calamity, which I always laugh at, is when the government starts charging for services we originally paid for, like making a highway into a toll road and leasing it out to foreigners for a lump sum. The state is absolved from all repair work at that point but they never seem to lower the fuel tax we pay for road repair. Funny how that works.



When the hard times come you will have to accept responsibility for your existance once again. You will not be able to call upon Mommy to come fix it any longer. Mommuy will be gone and you all will be required to become adult men and women and handle things. You want lights? You better learn how to make tallow and form candles. You want running water? You better position your self below a high spring and get you some pipe and rig a drain. Drains are important. You don't turn a spring OFF. It runs all the time. You want a bathroom? We call them outhouses in the future. Get a shovel now and avoid the rush. Want clean clothes? Ever heard of a washtub? Ever heard of a washboard? Your grandmothter knew all about them. She and your great grandmother could have told you exactly how it was done. But we let that process slip from our conciousness for some electric machines with knobs and buttons, so we don't know how to wash clothes anymore. We are secure in our washers and driers. And they too will perish from the earth. Soap is beyond most peoples comprehension. They couldn't make it if their very lives depended on it.



You want an alarm to call people together, since the telephone won't work anymore? You better find a big ol' bell and get it hung up and a pull cord for ringing it. Make it a crime for ringing it in frivolity. Remember the boy who cried wolf too many times! You want someone to fix your metal tool or appliance if it breaks? You had better make a friend of ol' Dragon or someone like that who has blacksmithing skills. You are gonna find that blacksmiths can be your best friend in times of duress. They can fix stuff. They can make stuff. They will have lots of raw material to use as most things will be just junk in the future. That blacksmith will be able to beat and form that junk into valuable tools that can help in the creaation of your existance. You ought to buy him a round every now and then. Keep him happy. You might even give him an intersted young lad to be his apprentice. You almost can't have too many blacksmiths.. You need to keep your blacksmith in fuel also. Those forges need to get hot and that takes fuel and someone to pump the bellows. Apprentices do that pumping of the bellows. That way they get to watch what is going on and how to do it.



I hope I have given you some idea of taking back your lives. Yeah, it's work. But it is also empowerment. It is the power of being able to exist when the rest of the world is going to hell in a handbasket. And the work load decreases in time. The garden gets turned and the house gets built and the privy gets dug. The barn gets completed. Then it becomes a matter of going to your post everyday and taing care of your area. You just have to pull an oar and not power the whole damn boat. Applied intelligence can make things better if you give it a chance. That and the guts to take responsibility. Stay alive.



Michael



mboone@rtccom.net