I usually NEVER post a topic this long nor just copy and paste but this article just brought multiple smiles to my face which are greatly needed these days.
SurvivalBlog for those of you who don’t know is a great site to read daily. I read the daily update article at night before going to bed. It’s about a 15 minute read so is perfect timing to just help knock me out.
James Wesley Rawles is the Owner and Creator of the blog and is an author of a handful of good survival fiction books as well as his best sellers, “How to Survive the End of the World as we know it”, and just within the last month “The Ultimate Prepper’s Survival Guide”. Both are good easy reads packed with REAL information.
Both of these make great Christmas gifts for nephews and nieces, and even the brother or sister that scoffs at you being prepared.
Here is the link to the website
Civil unrest has rocked many American cities. Looting, arson, assault and murder are common. As a result, a growing flood of refugees is fleeing the cities and their surrounding suburbs in order to seek safety in more rural settings. For those of you who may be voting with your feet in this way, I have gathered some tips regarding moving to the country. These tips deal primarily with unfamiliar things you may experience in a rural setting, and how to best respond to them.
SurvivalBlog readers with experience living in the country are encouraged to supplement my list in the comments section with tips of their own.
Situation 1, Your spouse exclaims, “Look, the neighbors are shooting guns out behind their barn!”
Bad Responses
Reply, “Call 911.”
Reply, “How terrible. Let’s try to get a local nuisance ordinance passed to prevent such behavior in the future.”
Good Response
Reply, “What a great idea! We should invite them over for dinner, and ask if they would let us sight in our new gun on their range?”
Best Responses:
Reply, “What a great idea! We should invite them over for dinner, and ask if they would help us set up a range behind our barn?”
Reply, “What a great idea! I wonder if they would prefer a box of 9 mm or 45 ACP with the plate of chocolate chip cookies that we are giving them for Christmas?”
Situation 2, Your spouse exclaims, “Look, the neighbors are spreading chicken manure on their garden!”
Bad Responses:
Reply, “Call 911.”
Reply, “How terrible. Let’s try to get a local nuisance ordinance passed to prevent such behavior in the future.”
Good Response:
Reply, “What a great idea! We should invite them over for dinner, and ask where we can get some chicken manure for our garden?”
Best Response:
Reply, “What a great idea! I wonder if we should raise chickens?”
Situation 3, Your spouse exclaims, “Look at this propane bill. It is outrageously expensive!”
Bad Responses:
Reply, “Call 911.”
Reply, “How terrible. Let’s try to get a local ordinance passed to regulate the price of propane.”
Call the propane company on the phone and cuss out the receptionist.
Good response:
Reply, “Wow, that is expensive. Let’s look into getting an alternate heat source like a wood stove or outside wood boiler.”
Situation 4, Your spouse exclaims, “Listen, the neighbors are running a chainsaw.”
Bad Responses:
Reply, “Call 911.”
Reply, “How terrible. Let’s try to get a local nuisance ordinance passed to prevent such behavior in the future.”
Good Response:
Reply, “I wonder what kind of saw he has. I think I will go over and ask.”
Best Response:
Reply, “That is great! We should invite them to dinner and see if they have any tips for us as we start cutting our own firewood.”
Situation 5, Your spouse exclaims, “The store is sure a long way away. We use a lot of time and gas going to buy things.”
Bad Response:
Complain to the neighbors about what a backward, deprived hole in the wall their community is.
Good Response:
Plan ahead so that you need to make fewer trips to the store.
Best Responses:
When you go to the store, see if the neighbors would like to ride along or have you pick up anything for them.
Plan ahead so that you have several months’ worth of supplies on the shelf at home at any given time. Rotate your supplies, so that you are using the oldest supplies first.
Situation 6, A candidate for Local, State, or Federal political office runs on a platform of “Common Sense Gun Control.”
Bad Response:
Exclaim to your spouse, “It is good to hear someone sane around here. Let’s vote for the type of policies we had back where we came from.”
Good Response:
Exclaim to your spouse, “Let’s not vote for that guy. That was one of the things that led to the decline of the area where we used to live. We moved away from there to get away from things like that.”
Best Response:
Actively support the campaign of candidates who support the Second Amendment.
Situation 7, Your spouse exclaims, “Look, the neighbors are going to church.”
Bad Response:
Reply, “What a bunch of rubes! I sure am glad that we are more enlightened than they are.”
Good Response:
Reply, “Naturalistic explanations are certainly not sufficient to encompass all of reality. I wonder what they know that we don’t.”
Best Response:
Begin studying the Bible to look for better explanations.
Recognize that you are a sinner who has offended a holy God.
Receive God’s gift of eternal salvation through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Join a good, Bible believing church and attend regularly.
Situation 8, Your spouse exclaims, “Look, the neighbors are butchering a cow.”
Bad Responses:
Reply, “Call 911.”
Reply, “How terrible. Let’s try to get a local nuisance ordinance passed to prevent such behavior in the future.”
Reply, “How cruel. Why do they have to kill something, instead of just buying their meat at the grocery store like kind and civilized people do?”
Good Response:
Reply, “That reminds me. We should order a quarter cow from the butcher.”
Best Response:
Reply, “Cool. I wonder if they would let me help the next time they butcher a cow so that I can start learning how to butcher too?”
Situation 9, Your spouse exclaims, “Look, our neighbors have a deer hanging from the tree in their front yard.”
Bad Response:
Reply, “Call 911. This may be a hate crime.”
Reply, “How disgusting. Our neighbors are Bambi killers.”
Good Response:
Reply, “Maybe I should learn more about hunting.”
Best Response:
Reply, “Let’s invite the neighbors over for dinner, and see if they can give us any advice about how to begin hunting.”
Situation 10, Your spouse exclaims, “Look, the neighbor’s boy has a knife on his belt.”
Bad Response:
Reply, “Call 911.”
Reply, “Call child protective services.”
Reply, “How terrible. Let’s try to get a local ordinance passed to prevent such behavior in the future.”
Good Response:
Reply, “Good for him. Knives are handy tools. I should probably start carrying a knife too.”
Best Response:
Reply, “We should invite the neighbors over for dinner and see if they have any advice about knife sharpening.”
Situation 11, Your spouse exclaims, “The water from our well tastes like minerals.”
Bad Response:
Reply, “Call 911. Someone is trying to poison us.”
Complain to the neighbors about how bad the water is in this backward hole in the wall.
Good Response:
Reply, “Wow, that is wonderful. Minerals at no extra charge.” (Depending on the temperament of your spouse, this may not be a good response).
Best Response:
Reply, “Maybe we should start using a Berkey water filter to treat our drinking water.”
Situation 12, Your spouse exclaims, “Look, the neighbors are canning vegetables from their garden.”
Bad Response:
Reply, “Call 911. I doubt they have a license for that.”
Reply, “What rubes. Don’t they know that canned goods should come from a factory.”
Good Response:
Reply, “What a great idea. Maybe we should read a book about canning.”
Best Response:
Reply, “What a great idea. We should invite the neighbors over for dinner and see if they have any advice about canning.”
Situation 13, Your spouse exclaims, “The electricity just went out.”
Bad Response:
Reply, “Call 911.”
Call the electric company and cuss out the receptionist.
Good Response:
Procure flashlights, battery powered radios, and other equipment and supplies in order to be ready for occasional short term power outages.
Better Response:
Procure a generator, fuel, and appropriate wiring in order to be ready for occasional power outages lasting several days.
Best Response:
Procure an alternate energy solution like wind or solar power in order to be ready for a long term power outage.
Situation 14, Your spouse exclaims, “I just cut my thumb badly while chopping up some carrots for dinner, and urgent care is an hour away.”
Bad Response:
Reply, “Call 911.”
Call urgent care and cuss out the receptionist for being an hour away.
Good Response:
Grab a clean dish towel, apply direct pressure to the cut, and drive an hour to urgent care.
Put together an extensive first aid kit to help respond to future emergencies.
Best Response:
Take a first aid class to help prepare to respond to future emergencies.
Conclusion
As you move into a new environment, the people around you may be an excellent source of information about how to live most effectively in that new environment. If you are friendly, humble, and teachable, they may be willing to share their knowledge, skills, and values with you.
Above all else, do not try to impose the values from the place that you left behind on your new community. Those values helped to make the place that you left behind the kind of place to leave behind. So leave it behind.