Preppers - Another word to describe crazy people

When some people find out I am a prepper they look at me like I am crazy. They picture me cowering behind some door with a gun or wooden bat in my hand because I think some brain eating zombie is after me but nothing can be further from the truth. Sure preppers worry some about zombies but not the kind that are made up for movies. The zombies we fear are the ones that are made from hunger because they have no food and no access to food because of either a natural disaster or food shortages, nuclear attacks, falling over the fiscal cliff or even something like a sudden job loss. We are not crazy. We just want to make sure we can take care of our families not matter what life throws at us.

Preppers know that in the event of a huge act of Mother Nature power can be lost for days, weeks and even months. Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy are prime examples of that. So are ice storms and tornado's and earthquakes. With out power wells wont work and water treatment plants will no longer be able to supply you with clean water. What fresh  and frozen meats, fish, seafood and dairy products that are in the stores will be unsafe to eat in a matter of hours. Gas pumps will not work. Electric cook stove will not work. If its very cold outside there will be no furnace working to keep you home warm. Looters will run rampant with in hours of the event. First they will go for the stores but after a few days when the stores run out they will come for you looking to get what they need. These people don't care about your needs or those of your family. They only think about their selves and some times their own family if they have one. They are all about what they can get for free or what they want or need to survive. No one else matters to them. That is why preppers prep! They want to make sure they and their families have a chance to survive no matter what has happened.

A sudden job loss can devastate a family , especially if it is the main bread winner that loses their job. The family income takes a big hit because lets face it, unemployment in most cases is not near enough to what you were bringing home to pay the bills, feed the family, buy clothes and other much needed items your family must have. And then when the medical insurance stops because you no longer work for the company you have medical bills that you have to cover out of your unemployment but even a greater strain on your budget.
So what do you do? Its either let a bill go to pay the doctor when your child is sick and needs meds that you must pay out of pocket before they can get them or pay the bill and hope the child gets better on their own.
You know you are going to let the bill or bills go in order to make sure your child gets well but that only puts you further behind and after while it seems like you are drowning in debit and will never see your head above water again. It can takes months and some times even a couple of years before you can find another job where you will make enough to catch up on your finances.

Preppers think about all these things. They know they can lose their job at any time because of the current economy or a natural disaster. They have been through or seen the effects of hurricanes, tornados, ice storms, blizzards and so on. They have seen empty stores shelves before and after such an event. They have been through long term power outages. They have seen how the looters come out and the damage they do to stores, homes and people. Preppers don't look at the world through rose colored glasses. They see the world as it is and what it can be like when things go bad.

They know not to depend on the government to help them much in times of severe need. Take a good look at what happened when Katrina and Sandy hit the USA. It took days before FEMA could get into some areas to help. People were on their own trying their best to survive. Food that had been in the stores were ruined. Water was contaminated. Bodies of humans and sea life where laying around decaying. Homes were destroyed and some people had no place to stay. Gas was unavailable so they could get out if they could even get out because some roads became impassable. Sandy happened during the fall/winter and people were with out heat in cold temperatures. And no matter how prepared FEMA is it can still take them hours if not days to respond because they need to make sure their own workers are not in danger.

Preppers are also a proud people. They don't want to depend on the government or the American taxpayer to support and provide for their families. They want to do it them selves. They are hard working people who have worked all their lives doing what they can to make sure their families are well fed, warm and protected to the best that they can possibly do for them. They live with in their means and depend on no one but them selves. They do not want to be a burden to anyone. They don't want government handouts.

So if you are a prepper stand up tall and proud because you will be able to provide for your family when things go bad for some reason. And if you are not a prepper you might want to start thinking about it. Thinks about what will happen if you have to survive after a event like Sandy. How are you going to keep your family fed, warm and safe?

And for those that think preppers are crazy well I will put it this way. I am thinking the same about you because you are willing to take a chance on your survival and that of your family if something big happens around you.