The old world is just about shot. What ruled 50 years ago is gone. I remember working for General Motors for a while in the 60's. The biggest threat we knew to our existance was that GM's market share would become too big and we would get some kind of sanction from the federal government so that GM's competitors would get more sales. That was then and this is now.
We could roll out a big rant about how that Japan came in and kicked ass and took away a chunk of the market. And we can rationalize the stupidity of the Big 3 auto makers in giving us pooorly designed vehicles. Too late. Water over the dam. So long, Detroit.
But what I want to get into is where do we go from here? What is valuable and what is junk? And how do we make a buck out of this deal? Major questions.
WHERE DO WE GO?
I remember how that for years I had an occurance that seemed to happen to me almost nightly. I would lay down with the lights off and start seeing the faces of men pass before me. They were not in technicolor but were basically in red. You remember the little toy your parents got for you as a kid where you put a disk with little film images into this machine and held it up to the light and saw pictures of things like Disney characters or something similiar? It had a little handle and you pushed it down with your fiunger and the image changed to another picture. It was fun. But I was seeing these images without the benefit of a machine. And after a few years of this I got kinda tired of it and maybe a little conceerned for my sanity. So finally I went to the man who was my Priest and Teacher and told him of these visions. And he said it wasn't nothin' to worry about. It was just my genetic lineage coming to view in my mind. I can tell you truthfully that I was relieved to hear I wasn't crazy.
But I meditated on these images and what they represented. And it became evident to me that I came from an unbroken line of men who had all gotten with a woman and sired at least one son before they left this earth for their heavenly abode. And those sons had sired a son before THEY went on. All of them had been survivors up to the point of siring that son, and maybe beyond that for a lot of them. And then I realized that everyone on the planet had the same background as to having an unbroken line of male ancestors.
But I saw mine in pictures. And I'll tell you, some of them looked like they had been ridden hard and put away wet on more than one occasion. Some of those dudes had led a rough existance. A few wore eyepatches. A few seemed to be missing arms. Tough and rugged muthas to the core. Our ancestors came through some hard times. Very hard times. But what they have in common was that they survived long enough to get the job done. We got here! And here we sit. And it looks like we are in for another dose of hard times. But we come from stock that made it through before so why worry about it now? We come from stock that came to grips with the world and won their segment of the race. We come from survivors. Let's get to it.
WHAT IS WORTH A DAMN?
Well, we can go to the old tried and true and say that all wealth comes from the Earth. And what does the people of the earth think has merit? What exists that people will trade for or pay money for?
The first thing that might pop into your mind is FOOD. All mans labor is for his belly. After he has air and water he goes looking for some grub to stick in his gut. I reckon we can all understand that. And if he has a wife and some kids his attitude toward acquiring food gets even more determined. Ol' Sweet Thing ain't so sweet if she and the kids are hungry. In fact she may take a very negative attitude toward much friendliness at all if the hunger thing is around.
"But Honey, I'm your husband and you're my wife and I need a little release?"
"Well, you just go out and sleep in the toolshed and find a release out there!"
The pain and agony of hunger. And with the world filling up with people like it is, we aren't gonna have much food to go around unless everything works exactly perfect and it never works exactly perfect. God has ordained Mr. Murphy to see to that. You go into a supermarket these days and there is a selection of fruits and vegetables and meats that would stagger the mind of a woman who lived a hundred years ago. Might not be there much longer, though. You had better address that problem before it gets to its fullness. Grow food. You can feed yourself and barter the rest. Make sure you get yourself fed before you go trading.
Timber and wood products will always be on the want list. People have to have a home to live in of some sort. Some people will need additions to their existing homes for storage or additional children. Barns will need rebuilt and sheds will be constructed as people start taking better care of the important things in life. People will need sheds to dry herbs and beans and shelled corn and things like that. Blacksmiths will need smithys. Horses will need stalls in a building. And the list of buildings goes on and on. I can't begin to type all the things that wood will be needed to build. Wood is renewable and thus we can have it for a long, long time.
Coal will be valuable. It can turn generators by heating steam. It can fire the forge of the local blacksmith. It can heat your house in the Winter. It's a fuel and all fuels are going to be in great demand.
Vast open tracts of land like we have out West can feed livestock. It ain't like our land here in the East where we try to figure how many cows per acre we can feed, but rather it's how many acres per cow does it take to support an animal. But there are millions of acres out there, if you can get the fedgov to turn loose of it. But you can make money supplying Asia with beef. Or Europe or the Middle East. You gotta work out some cheap freight but it would make you some friends on foreign shores.
American gardeners have the ability to grow organic fruit and vegetables. This would be a marketable commodity just about anywhere. The main thing, of course, is to grow non-hybrid crops and be able to save the seed for your next years effort. But fresh vegetables for sale could make you a very popular person.
Small meat production is another area to explore. Chickens and ducks and turkeys are very popular and could earn you the best of living in a bad time. Rabbits can be grown in cages if you know how and its meat on the hoof come trading time. Smaller critters will be popular with folks that live by themselves and can't store a large amount of meat for a very long time.
Small trades will be in vogue after a collapse. Metal working will be popular with people who need knives and such for their work. Any fabricating skills will be in demand. Seamstresses will be in vogue again. And so forth and so on.
WHAT DO WE DO?
We do the things that are possible and beneficial. We do the things that help people to survive and let them live a decent life. We stay away from the idiocies of modern finance and banking. We band together and take care of each other. We sort of become our own Social Security. We have seen what fails so let's not do any more of that. Let it be said that Wisdom is our Leader and Truth is our Guide. Do not trust not in the governments of man. I am convinced of small villages in rural settings all over the globe. I am convinced that small is beautiful and big can be fatal.
But the thing to do is to survive. All is lost if we fall by the wayside and let the gene pool degenerate. We have knowledge and skills and drives that need to be passed on to future generations. The younger folks can do all the breeding and feeding but we need to be there to tell the story of mankind. We have ATTITUDE that needs to be passed on. Our stubborn refusal to accept and follow a multitude to do evil needs to be taught to kids. Who will teach the kids to question authority if we are gone? If we come out of this next creation of society with anything worth while we need to let the kids know how to sustain it.
I go for now. Stay alive!
Michael
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