SHTF Plan Editor?s Note: The following article from Chris Carrington of The Daily Sheeple poses an interesting scenario and one that every prepper has likely discussed with friends and family in their preparedness group. When the system fails how far are you willing to go to help your fellow man? We know what happens when resources run out and panic grips the populace. There will be riots, looting and violence. And despite the inherent good I?d like to believe exists in every human being, when people are at their wits end, hungry, and tired, they will do things they?d never have imagined during a time of peace and stability.
This is why the following topic should be of interest. It is one covered by many survival and preparedness authors. My wife Tess has provided some tips and strategies for charitable giving in a post-collapse world in her 52 Weeks to Preparedness series. It?s easy for all of us to say ?If a family with kids shows up looking for help I will gladly give them food.? But when it hits the fan and your life is really on the line, will you still be so generous? Will you risk your family?s safety just to be charitable? As with everything else preparedness, if you are adamant about charitable giving in an SHTF environment, consider the risks and weigh your options. James Rawles of Survival Blog, for example, suggests going through a local church or organization to make donations rather then providing it directly to people in need as an operational security measure.
I know Chris Carrington. And I know Chris is the kind of person who will stop to render you medical aid if you are seriously injured and dying on a street while most others would simply walk on by. This is why I take this article seriously. I am certain Chris thought long and hard about this, as many of you have, and it wasn?t just slapped together.
We welcome community discussion on this topic, because it is an important one, and because you will no doubt be faced with making this decision should the worst come to pass.
Why I Won?t Be Charitable When The SHTF
By Chris Carrington
I have learned a great deal since I came on board here at The Daily Sheeple. I have read and listened to the opinions of many who are far further down the line of preparedness than I am, and although it may make me unpopular, I disagree with a some of what they say.
Of course agreeing or disagreeing with someone is purely personal choice. I am not saying they are wrong, just that I disagree with them.
Take for instance the charity aspect of prepping.
Many of the big names in prepping advocate that we should show solid Christian values in times of crisis and lay aside some essential items to give away to those that pass through who are less fortunate that ourselves.
NOT A CHANCE.
It has nothing to do with the fact that I have prepared, that I have scrimped and saved, and they possibly have not. It has nothing to do with greed on my part and to hell with all others. It has to do with the survival of my family.
A great deal is made on all prepping sites about OPSEC. Keeping low and not attracting attention, and this is where the trouble starts.
I know for a fact that if I had been given food, water and maybe a few other essential items by someone I passed along the way I would remember them.
I know that if the survival of my children was at stake and I couldn?t provide for them I would revisit the person that had assisted me in the hope of getting more supplies.
I know I would do anything I had to do to feed my kids, to keep them alive. Now if I could trade something, work for the food I would certainly do so. What happens though if the answer is no, we?re fine thanks, off you go?
Think about this. Put yourself in the position of the people you helped. You know this family had enough food to give some away. It?s unlikely you are the only people who have happened by. To a desperate man with starving children the logical conclusion would be that the family who helped you out had food to spare.
This is a situation that?s going to get ugly very fast.
Moving a little further into our imagined scenario. You helped the passers by as best you could. You are well armed and willing to defend your family and your supplies. The passers by you assisted know this, they know they couldn?t take you alone. So they come back with a mob. A mob of cold, hungry and armed people who want what you have got.
Once again it will get ugly very fast.
So, I will learn from those who know more than me, and I?m extremely grateful that they share their knowledge, but for me, charity really does begin at home if we are in a SHTF situation.
I will not risk blowing my OPSEC. I will not risk the lives of myself and my family in order to be charitable, it just isn?t going to happen. Every morsel of food I give away could keep my kids going for another day. Every item of clothing I give away could have kept my kids warm in the winter, could have wrapped my future grandchildren, could get passed on to the next generation who may have no access to new clothing.
We all know it?s not a case of if the SHTF, it?s a case of when. Be it a natural or man made disaster, there?s no reason to think we are the immune generation, that it won?t happen to us. We are not special in the grand scheme of things, we are no different to other generations that have faced war or famine or pandemic. The list of what can and does go wrong on this planet of ours is long, very long. Should one of these events occur, all of us, no matter how well prepared, are going to struggle to survive. Many of us won?t make it for one reason or another.
To attempt to survive, and even thrive after a catastrophic event is normal, it?s human nature, and while I pity those who have nothing I will not assist them with food, water or material items that could hasten the demise of me and mine.
There are many who will read this and decide I have no Christian values, I accept that , and I won?t argue with them, they are fully entitled to their opinion. What I will say is God gave me a brain and the ability to use it and that?s exactly what I?m doing.
Opening my door and handing out charity parcels when the grid is down or the food supply chain has snapped, when people are cold, hungry and desperate is to me akin to going to an ATM in a rough part of town and announcing loudly that you are taking out $1000 from an account that has $1,000,000 in it.
You just wouldn?t do it would you? You wouldn?t announce to every mugger in the neighborhood that you had a $1000 on you and there was plenty more where that came from.
In a collapse scenario your preps are worth more than that $1000. They are worth more than $1,000,000 in a situation where no amount of money can buy you what you need.
Think about this?how far would you go to protect you and yours?
I know for a fact I would do whatever I had to, including stealing from others. It?s not something I like to admit to, but it is the truth. Thinking this way also makes you realize you may not survive the encounter of taking from others and where would your family be then?
This is why I prep. To provide for myself and my family in times of trouble. To make sure they have enough water, food and clothing to see them through for as long as possible. To have enough seeds stored, and enough gardening knowhow that we can supplement our diets making our canned and dehydrated supplies last longer, far longer than they would have done otherwise.
It?s why we?ve opened up fireplaces and brought dynamo flashlights. It?s why the nieces and nephews join our own kids for ?craft? sessions where they are taught to knit, sew and fix things up with hammers and nails. they think this is so cool as none of their friends get to do it.
They make bread and pick produce they have grown. They are learning what they can and cannot eat from the hedgerows.
All of this is why I prep and I?ll be damned if I am going to risk all that because I give a bottle of water and a couple of cans of beans to passing strangers.
This is why the following topic should be of interest. It is one covered by many survival and preparedness authors. My wife Tess has provided some tips and strategies for charitable giving in a post-collapse world in her 52 Weeks to Preparedness series. It?s easy for all of us to say ?If a family with kids shows up looking for help I will gladly give them food.? But when it hits the fan and your life is really on the line, will you still be so generous? Will you risk your family?s safety just to be charitable? As with everything else preparedness, if you are adamant about charitable giving in an SHTF environment, consider the risks and weigh your options. James Rawles of Survival Blog, for example, suggests going through a local church or organization to make donations rather then providing it directly to people in need as an operational security measure.
I know Chris Carrington. And I know Chris is the kind of person who will stop to render you medical aid if you are seriously injured and dying on a street while most others would simply walk on by. This is why I take this article seriously. I am certain Chris thought long and hard about this, as many of you have, and it wasn?t just slapped together.
We welcome community discussion on this topic, because it is an important one, and because you will no doubt be faced with making this decision should the worst come to pass.
Why I Won?t Be Charitable When The SHTF
By Chris Carrington
I have learned a great deal since I came on board here at The Daily Sheeple. I have read and listened to the opinions of many who are far further down the line of preparedness than I am, and although it may make me unpopular, I disagree with a some of what they say.
Of course agreeing or disagreeing with someone is purely personal choice. I am not saying they are wrong, just that I disagree with them.
Take for instance the charity aspect of prepping.
Many of the big names in prepping advocate that we should show solid Christian values in times of crisis and lay aside some essential items to give away to those that pass through who are less fortunate that ourselves.
NOT A CHANCE.
It has nothing to do with the fact that I have prepared, that I have scrimped and saved, and they possibly have not. It has nothing to do with greed on my part and to hell with all others. It has to do with the survival of my family.
A great deal is made on all prepping sites about OPSEC. Keeping low and not attracting attention, and this is where the trouble starts.
I know for a fact that if I had been given food, water and maybe a few other essential items by someone I passed along the way I would remember them.
I know that if the survival of my children was at stake and I couldn?t provide for them I would revisit the person that had assisted me in the hope of getting more supplies.
I know I would do anything I had to do to feed my kids, to keep them alive. Now if I could trade something, work for the food I would certainly do so. What happens though if the answer is no, we?re fine thanks, off you go?
Think about this. Put yourself in the position of the people you helped. You know this family had enough food to give some away. It?s unlikely you are the only people who have happened by. To a desperate man with starving children the logical conclusion would be that the family who helped you out had food to spare.
This is a situation that?s going to get ugly very fast.
Moving a little further into our imagined scenario. You helped the passers by as best you could. You are well armed and willing to defend your family and your supplies. The passers by you assisted know this, they know they couldn?t take you alone. So they come back with a mob. A mob of cold, hungry and armed people who want what you have got.
Once again it will get ugly very fast.
So, I will learn from those who know more than me, and I?m extremely grateful that they share their knowledge, but for me, charity really does begin at home if we are in a SHTF situation.
I will not risk blowing my OPSEC. I will not risk the lives of myself and my family in order to be charitable, it just isn?t going to happen. Every morsel of food I give away could keep my kids going for another day. Every item of clothing I give away could have kept my kids warm in the winter, could have wrapped my future grandchildren, could get passed on to the next generation who may have no access to new clothing.
We all know it?s not a case of if the SHTF, it?s a case of when. Be it a natural or man made disaster, there?s no reason to think we are the immune generation, that it won?t happen to us. We are not special in the grand scheme of things, we are no different to other generations that have faced war or famine or pandemic. The list of what can and does go wrong on this planet of ours is long, very long. Should one of these events occur, all of us, no matter how well prepared, are going to struggle to survive. Many of us won?t make it for one reason or another.
To attempt to survive, and even thrive after a catastrophic event is normal, it?s human nature, and while I pity those who have nothing I will not assist them with food, water or material items that could hasten the demise of me and mine.
There are many who will read this and decide I have no Christian values, I accept that , and I won?t argue with them, they are fully entitled to their opinion. What I will say is God gave me a brain and the ability to use it and that?s exactly what I?m doing.
Opening my door and handing out charity parcels when the grid is down or the food supply chain has snapped, when people are cold, hungry and desperate is to me akin to going to an ATM in a rough part of town and announcing loudly that you are taking out $1000 from an account that has $1,000,000 in it.
You just wouldn?t do it would you? You wouldn?t announce to every mugger in the neighborhood that you had a $1000 on you and there was plenty more where that came from.
In a collapse scenario your preps are worth more than that $1000. They are worth more than $1,000,000 in a situation where no amount of money can buy you what you need.
Think about this?how far would you go to protect you and yours?
I know for a fact I would do whatever I had to, including stealing from others. It?s not something I like to admit to, but it is the truth. Thinking this way also makes you realize you may not survive the encounter of taking from others and where would your family be then?
This is why I prep. To provide for myself and my family in times of trouble. To make sure they have enough water, food and clothing to see them through for as long as possible. To have enough seeds stored, and enough gardening knowhow that we can supplement our diets making our canned and dehydrated supplies last longer, far longer than they would have done otherwise.
It?s why we?ve opened up fireplaces and brought dynamo flashlights. It?s why the nieces and nephews join our own kids for ?craft? sessions where they are taught to knit, sew and fix things up with hammers and nails. they think this is so cool as none of their friends get to do it.
They make bread and pick produce they have grown. They are learning what they can and cannot eat from the hedgerows.
All of this is why I prep and I?ll be damned if I am going to risk all that because I give a bottle of water and a couple of cans of beans to passing strangers.
