I read both of the suggested articles; they weren’t ones I’ve read before. Thanks to both Daisy and Selco!
I’m going to respond to this day’s challenge first by how I’d chose NOT to associate. Example 1: DH and I went to what was supposed to be a Meet and Greet for a local prepper group. Only one man was there; others were busy and he was disappointed. We talked for an hour or so. It didn’t sound like a vibrant group…disorganized. Those are not deal breakers, necessarily. But I wasn’t getting anything that I connected with at all. Topics rambled and we weren’t giving away anything cuz he liked to talk. THEN HE SAYS: “I’m perfectly comfortable with someone’s blood running down my blade.” Not a threat; part of a who’s who …………OKAAAY, we’re outta here! For 3 reasons: A..Totally inappropriate topic for a first Meet and Greet. B..I had already gotten the impression that he desperately wanted to be an ex-Seal or Ranger ….but definitely was not. C..Even should such a thing become an unfortunate necessity [as in war..self-defense], I don’t want to become or associate with someone who is “perfectly comfortable” with it.
Example 2: DH and I took in a relative and her young son. She’d lived with us before when she was an older teen, so we THOT we knew what we were getting into. 20 yrs later, she was far different. She was now a paranoid, unstable person. She needed to take over and lead…not because she was good at it. Far from it! Because she was so terrified of life that she had to push it in her direction only. Course she never saw that her way led her to homelessness, jail, … She had become crafty and manipulative but with low intelligence, it wasn’t too hard to see thru it. Sadly, she lied to herself most of all…because she was an unreachable, terrified little girl inside.
In StuffHitsFan, folks like her will be like hiking with a 75lb pack…and she is the rock in your shoe. But during a SHF…wouldn’t she become compliant and workable out of sheer terror? No…cuz she NEEDS to have her needs met HER way. She DID try to move in on our friends cuz they have bigger house/more stuff. [they initially fell for it, despite our warning about her…cuz they are kind but not wise.] A person like her will ‘upgrade‘ so as to meet her everlasting, immature needs and sell you out. Never bright enough to know their error. Mental illness is going to be far worse if times are hard. Not even to mention unavailable meds.
At this point, we are mostly alone except for our elderlies. They still have cards to play in the game, despite physically impairments. But their lives will not be much longer anyway, but very short in SHF. Besides our gullible-but-prepared friends, we have probably 3 adjoining-property neighbors that are up here for the reasons we are. One has actually said so….with no OpSec. Not good. Another…I would NOT trust! That “child” lies about others and must run the show …tho maybe having a baby will mature her now. Don’t know her dh much but they have skills and youth. The third set are kind and have generously done us a couple favors …and have a greenhouse! Thot we were moving away before now so we’re disappointed that we didn’t cultivate friendship with them..so far. If we are still here and not near our kids when SHF, I think they might be allies. But we’re all old up here…having ailments that won’t be helpful. Might have to have uneasy alliance with MsLiar “next door”. Better to have an uncomfortable ally than an actual enemy? Especially up-ridge from us? Not sure….
Ultimately, we hope to be near kids/grkids in SHF. We all know each other for our good and bad points. But we love each other….and we’re mentally stable and reasonably mature. Both of those qualities are strained even in ‘normal’ hard times. But we can forgive and tolerate too. That’s family. We have a variety of skills. I write stories for myself and run thru how we’d do in a StuffHitsFan. That’s shown me our strengths and I can poke fun in my fiction, at our weaknesses. Aging is coming up on all of us tho…and few descendants to take over. They have many friends so hopefully some will be appropriate for this.
One of our problem areas will be that most of us are leaders in one way or another. Hopefully we’d all lead within our own expertise. Not sure we have an overall leader who would be up to speed in SHF. Eventually, our daughter would be the coordinator…after she recovers from freaking out. She fights any idea of her life going back into chaos. I’m too old to coordinate for long….but as even y’all know 😉 …I still have the skill of talking! DH and SIL are not into details so their leadership needs to be in their very important skill sets. Our skill sets cover many key areas…but we have a hole.
OldMtWoman