The Dichotomy of Being a Prepper - Damned if You Do, Damned if You Do and You’re Right
by Damian Brindle
Being a prepper is a relatively easy choice for me. Looking back, I can't understand what I was thinking BEFORE I ever choose to prep... just young and naive, I guess.
These days I understand the importance of prepping and what it means to my family's safety; it's really a no-brainer lifestyle.
Sadly, the vast majority of Americans don't see things as I do. Obviously, one of us (me or most Americans) has to be wrong. But who?
The answer may shock you: It's me. I'm wrong and I ALWAYS will be because it doesn't matter what I think. Here's why...
You see, with respect to the way I should behave in society, I'm an oddball. I don't fit in. I do things differently than the Average Joe which makes me just plain wrong in most people's eyes.
Amazingly, I can't think of any label as vilified as being called a "prepper" or "survivalist" is these days. Think about it. Middle-class folks think I'm a hoarder, the poor think I'm rich, the rich think I'm not buying the right items (e.g., televisions and new smartphones), and the government and police think I'm a radical.
WTF?
I'd have been better off announcing I'm a atheist transvestite with leprosy... at least then I'd probably get some government aid and maybe a few laws passed protecting my rights.
Being a "prepper" and dare I say a whack-job "survivalist" means I'm labeled negatively, so much so that people don't understand what I do or why... and they don't care.
After all, for what reason is there to prepare myself for an unlikely emergency? Things rarely happen and when they do the government gets things fixed rather quickly, FEMA is usually on-top of things, and if worse comes to worse there's always a nearby camp where tens of thousands of other's just like me can get together and sing kumbaya.
Oh, wait... that's not right!
Regardless, the simple fact that I choose to live my life vastly different than the vast majority of Americans do makes me "damned" to say the least. They will never "get it" and I will never go back. So we're at a standstill and so long as they have the numbers then I'm apparently in the wrong. Plain and simple. This makes me damned because I do.
What's worse is that if and when an emergency does happen then I'm still damned for a number of reasons, including the fact that I and my family are not hungry, out in the cold, or stumbling around in the dark like everyone else is.
No matter how the scenario plays out from here I can neither say "I told you so" nor can I choose to give enough of what I've rightfully acquired to those many folks who failed to do so. In other words, I can't win.
The only thing that I can do is to continue to be a beacon of hope and reason to any and all who will listen. Today that person is you. So long as I continue to prep and be what I feel is an upstanding citizen and pillar of my community--both locally and online--then I've done what I can do.
As for you, I merely ask that you do the same. Eventually--though probably not in our lifetimes--the tide will turn, if you will. Once again we'll have gone back to our roots, lived a bit more like our ancestors did, and realize that the great societal systems we have put in place maybe aren't so great for our own well-being, security, safety, resilience... and perhaps even our souls.