Self Sufficient Living, Is it Possible?
In a practical sense, no, not really, it would be near impossible to live self-sufficient. We will nearly always need a product or service provided by someone else. I suppose that in a very caveman way, some of us could be self-sufficient with the right knowledge and skills – but day-to-day life would be filled with pure survival in mind. Some members of the military are trained to be able to do this, and some private citizens have learned the necessary skills. The fact is, one could safely say that hardly anyone on the planet could be truly self-sufficient.
The process of development from the caveman to our modern day way of life has been filled with advancements and discoveries, the most basic of which is the simple concept that in order to better your chances of survival, you need a community that is working together. Even the survivalist minded folks who have either moved to their own survival retreat or have purchased a 2nd property to be used as a retreat, they need the products and services from others.
I would bet that most of the food on the shelves, refrigerator, or freezer of the retreat are not from the garden, or the result of hunting expeditions (some, but probably not most).
The gasoline and other fuels have to come from somewhere, unless your property is sitting atop an oil or gas field with your own pump.
The clothes on your back and the shoes on your feet were most likely made somewhere else, most likely in another country far away.
The list goes on and on of course… If it weren’t for modern civilization, we wouldn’t have any of these things. We would truly be wearing buckskin and hunting with bow and arrows.
Many people who have already bugged-out, those who have become highly discouraged with today’s modern day way of life, a ‘way’ that has become corrupt and filled with greed – bringing us to the edge of financial collapse, these people have been fortunate to have made the money to have purchased the supplies and the retreat – the money coming from the same corrupt system they are isolating themselves from (again, not everyone… speaking generally here).
The point is, isolating one’s self in a remote retreat location, far away from metropolis, is all well and good if one believes a massive collapse is eminent, but what about the future? If said collapse actually occurs, how will you manifest your supplies as you go forward? You certainly can’t do it all yourself. The true solution to such a scenario is that it will take a community of people working together – be it in a rural location 100 miles away from any major city, or be it in suburbia.
In a collapse scenario, all of suburbia will not flame out. If a given community is well knit and like minded and somewhat prepared, there is a high probability they will pull through.
The key though is to know your neighbors, and know if you are living among like minded folks who will look out for each-other if times get real bad. By natural instinct, most people are compassionate and will help each-other in times of disaster. The problem arises though when people get desperate and resort to alternative means for their own survival.
This is why the more that are prepared, the fewer desperate people there will be. Talking casually with your friends and neighbors about having a 3 month supply of food (or more!) is not as taboo as you might think these days.
Food for though…
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