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Last week, while at work, I was making some not-so-obvious inquiries about my coworkers' thoughts on the stability of the United States, with respect to the economy, infrastructure, foreign relations, etc. A particular coworker, who happens to be a very good friend, and who happens to know a bit about my preps, had this to say:
I didn't quote this directly, because this is slight paraphrasing of what he said...I don't remember verbatim, but this is the gist of it.
This is America. We've been kicking ass for thousands of years. No one will ever be as powerful, or be able to touch us. Everyone else in the world depends on America being the most powerful nation in the world. Everyone else would collapse without us.
Now, he was being somewhat sarcastic, but when he and I have had serious discussions in private, he echoes the same sentiments. He does not prepare at all, believes the "news" about how the U.S. is on the rebound, and feels that his government will come to his aid if there's an emergency/disaster/etc.
On the other hand, another coworker of mine (who turns 70 this year, who has already retired from a long, fruitful career as a government administrator), feels a lot like we do here on the forum. We were talking about government aid, the slow degradation of the U.S. Constitution, the problem with debts, etc. He is kicking himself for not investing in precious metals early in his life, and was advising me to start investing in them now. Out of approximately 60 coworkers, only 2 (including the nearly-70 one), have made any sort of preparations!
One of the ways I attempt to discreetly encourage people to prepare and reduce their dependence on our fragile infrastructure is to talk about sustainability. This seems to be the best way to ease people into the idea that they shouldn't be so dependent on things that are so fragile. I was listening to The Survival Podcast the other day, and Jack Spirko (one of my heroes), was talking about the psychology of people, and how facing such things as the fragile infrastructure, the idea that the U.S. isn't too big to fail, etc., is simply too much for them to handle. Ignorance is bliss, and they would rather ignore warning signs and bury their heads in the sand than face some of the truths about our current world affairs.
When I feel strongly and passionately about something, I tend to get preachy. I always learn the hard way that being preachy alienates people, and they almost always tune me out, rather than listen to what I have to say. A lot of folks are starting to think of my as a hippie-type when I talk about things like Mother Earth News, growing and canning your own foods, living sustainably, etc. But it's funny how open they are to those ideas when compared to talking about prepping or "doomsday" scenarios.
It frightens me to think about how many people, especially my close friends and family, who are so unprepared AND so closed-minded about even discussing the possibilities of social, political or economic collapse (or even things less-severe, yet certainly a threat). I commented to my almost-70 coworker that modern day United States of America is poised to repeat the Fall of Rome. So much of our population has the same ego-centric view that the bulk of the ancient Romans had, which led to their downfall. My coworker agreed wholeheartedly, saying that my grandchildren's generation (I am 35) will likely be the ones to bear the brunt of our short-sightedness. I hope I can help to raise awareness by encouraging people to be self-sufficient and to study history before the downfall of the United States, and maybe the rest of humanity.
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