Social unrest in the inner city and suburbs is something that we should all acknowledge as a possibility. The longer time goes on without a significant disaster, the more at ease our minds get and the less we care about actually taking the time in doing some preparing. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the normalcy bias. People have a general disbelief that things could change; it sort of reminds me of the way some people of faith believe and have believed for decades that the end is near; yet time continues to go on.
This makes believing in any disaster scenario a discouraging message especially for children going into adulthood who have heard this their whole lives but not seeing any sort of catastrophe that justifies anything about the doom sayers. Complacency allows them to avoid any real “preparedness” for any event outside of the norm. I just say that only to make the comparison to the many who are prudent preppers and are finding themselves becoming complacent and indifferent about the threat of social unrest.
The good news is that if you have taken the time to prepare, most of what you have done will be long-lasting and available in the time of a crisis. Beyond that, the peace of mind that you give yourself by having lifestyle and survival insurance is prudent and enjoyable. If you are like me, you actually might enjoy setting yourself up to thrive and be prepared. The good thing for those who haven’t bothered to care or take time to set aside some emergency supplies is that it is not too late to do so; you still have time.
One of the questions that comes up often is: “What if I’m just wasting my time and nothing ever happens?”
The answer to that question is easy! You never actually want to have to use your emergency supplies because if you need them, that means you are having an emergency. Each month you pay for insurance not hoping to use it, but to be prepared when a situation happens.
Emergency Situations
Natural Disaster – Preparation for these is easy to justify when you live in areas that are prone for earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, fires, severe flooding, or even just cold devastating winters. You can’t ever be too sure that there will never be a severe climate change due to a cosmic event or solar flare that throws off the earth’s equilibrium. Honestly, I can’t think of a single area on the earth that does not have some sort of natural threat to it on some scale. No one is exempt.
Economic Uncertainty – This is a big one that we talk about a great deal. If we do see something such as hyperinflation, riots in the streets would only be expected. If one day the population could afford to buy food and the next day they could not, the basic need to survive will cause people to fight to gain food for their family. High unemployment, spikes in gas prices, over-reaching taxes and much more could be a catalyst for an emergency situation like this that we should prepare for.
Epidemics – We are witnessing an unparalleled rise in infectious diseases. Many of these epidemics can be caused from poor sanitary conditions following natural disasters, such as the cholera epidemic that occurred shortly after the Haitian earthquake in 2010. A touchy subject that I won’t belabor is immunizations that many are opting to not give their kids. Without getting into the politics too much, inevitably, this will cause mass amounts of children to grow up without vaccinations that will be infected with diseases that may manifest and spread as less people are vaccinated. Look for this to be a problem in the next decade or two. The use of antibiotics has also contributed to the development of antibiotic resistant superbugs; viruses that thrive because their competitors were killed by the antibiotics.
Political Downturn – As we progress down a slippery slope of political handouts and bigger government, society will inevitably be poorer. When this poverty starts cutting into people’s ability to eat and have basic necessities, emergency outbreaks could occur.
Being Prepared- Five Things You Can Do
- Live under your means
- Build your wealth
- Build food storage
- Stay healthy
- Have some protection
I encourage you to do so!
Prosperous Regards,
Kenneth Ameduri
Chief Editor at CrushTheStreet.com