General Preparedness

At any time we could be plunged into a word were we are helpless. The chances of this happening grow less and less as we grow more prepared.

...

I think my cryptic warning needs some explanation.

The future is unpredictable, we can't tell what it holds. Sure some things we can see that are unavoidable and we can say that they will happen and they will. For example I could say that there will be turmoil in the Middle East and no one will bat an eyelash. But if I told someone that someone they knew was going to have a heart attack and the only way they could save them if they had a cell phone on them and knew CPR, then do you think that person would go and learn CPR? Most people wouldn't pay attention, because I'm not a doctor, people only tend to pay attention to warnings about heart attacks from doctors, and sometimes not even then.

We never know when we will need to preform CPR; chase down a runaway train, or guinea pig; or nail that zombie about to grab your buddy with your throwing knife. This is where you say 'But there are so many things that could happen, how can I prepare for them all?' Not to worry my friends, I'm not here to teach you CPR, how to tie a bowline, or even do jumping jacks, at least not today, anyways. I just want to outline three basic ideas that everyone needs to follow to be prepared for the random stuff that can happen.

These three ideas are mental, physical, and martial preparedness. These can be broken down even further into smaller groups. Mental is the first item on the list. Being prepared mentally is half knowing what to do and how to do it, and half having the guts to do it and not give up and go cry in the corner. Seeing as I've already set a patern of going back to my CPR example and using the word "prepared" every other sentence, why stop now? If you find your friend laying on the ground not breathing what would you do? Would you know that you need to check for blockage in his throat, and to support his neck (in case its broken) while doing so? Would you have the "guts" to start doing chest compressions knowing that it will break bones? Would you know... Okay you get the point.

But despite being extremely important, knowing and determination are only the first step on the path to survival. The next is being physically fit. You know that fat kid that you're friends with? When the zombies come he better hope he has a good hiding place because there's no way that he is going to outrun even the creepers. There really isn't much to say about this one. If you aren't fit then you have to rely a lot more on the other two parts of preparedness to get you through. If we go back once again to the CPR example then we can see where this would be a problem, in two ways. First you have to break bones to do chest compressions. This being said, you just have to be heavy enough and not necessarily strong. The other problem is that it is unlikely that you will revive someone by giving them CPR. (I think the statistic is about 1 in a hundred but I'm not sure.) This means that you have to preform CPR until help arrives, this could be hours.

Finally we have martial preparedness. This would include everything from a house built in a non-flood zone, to portable generators, to the clothes you're wearing right now. As you know, my family has a portable generator, what you don't know is that our house is built on a area that won't flood, I'm also wearing clothes. Sometimes it isn't enough to be physically and mentally prepared, sometimes you need a tool or other physical object to help. My CPR example is less potent here as you do not need any items to do it. I have four items that I like to always have on me: my cellphone, my wallet, a pocket knife, and a flashlight. I find that these can come in handy quite often in day to day life and are extremely usefully in survival situations. I recommend that people at least carry a knife around with them, I use mine daily and don't leave the house without it. It's become something people expect me to have and ask to borrow it often. My dad like knives as much as I do, in fact he has two on his key chain.

Other then knives there are other items that you want to have: canned food, spare batteries, radios, tents, sleeping bags, large-caliber weapons...  Also, never go on a camp out without rain gear, I swear the sky knows when you have it and when you don't.

Well I hope this helped. Now go out there and BE PREPARED. (I am suddenly reminded of a certain singing lion...)

Zombie Killing Technique #98:A brick and a belt or a shovel.