In Sunday’s The Advocate (my newspaper of choice), there was an article by Samantha Gross of the Associated Press entitled, “Slump Scares Survivalists” (2008); and when I read this article, it was a real eye-opener, mainly because it caused me to realize just how dire the situation is in this country. Indeed, doomsayers all across this nation are predicting an economic crash comparable to, if not worse, than the Great Depression, which will result in nationwide chaos and not only destroy life as we know it but also perhaps even herald the advent of Armageddon. 

Gross relates how some people are preparing for this worse-case scenario by moving into homesteads; learning to subsist off the land; slicing up credit cards; banishing television from their homes; putting in wood heaters and stoves, as well as stocking up on firewood; and, in many cases, stockpiling guns and ammo “to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn’t prepare” (Advocate, 2008, p. 20A). In addition, these survivalists are planting and cultivating fruit orchards; building irrigation and sewage systems; erecting greenhouses; converting to solar energy; and/or constructing windmills.

On the other hand, Gross’s article also made me recall my childhood back in rural Georgia, perhaps because I suddenly realized something I had never before even considered—call it an epiphany if you wish—which was that my daddy, my mama, my siblings, and I were all survivalists. We just didn’t know it.

After all, my family had chickens, goats, cows, and pigs, all of which provided a necessary contribution to our subsistence. Daddy always planted a large garden, which he lovingly tended each year, along with fruit trees, and grape and muscadine arbors; and from their bounty, Mama canned vegetables, dried fruit, pickled peaches and cucumbers, and made preserves and jellies. Moreover, we had a well, with a windless and a bucket; and that well contained the clearest, coldest water anyone ever had the pleasure of drinking from a tin cup. We also burned coal in a heater for warmth, had a wood-burning stove, and, at least until I started school, read by the light of kerosene lamps, listened to a battery-operated radio, and didn’t own a television. Plus, my mama boiled the laundry in a huge black iron pot and hung the clothes on a clothesline to dry in the sun and wind.

Then again, as I thought about my childhood, I couldn’t help but compare our way of life to what’s happening today; and as I did, I also realized something else (call it another epiphany). I realized there was a big, big difference between then and now. Back then, most people were survivalists, although, like my family, they didn’t know it; and, today, it’s a role people adopt out of fear.  

Gross, S; “Slump Scares Survivalists;” Associated Press; The Advocate; Sunday, June 1, 2008; p. 20A.