Drips and Dribbles - or How I learned to Love the Decline

It makes sense really that if we are suffering a long slow decline that any satisfaction from our accomplishments or recognition of our foresight will also come in drips and dribbles.

I guess it was sometime in the Mid-90's that I seriously realized something was very wrong with our world and my interest in survival-ism began to slowly morph into the realm of sustainable living.

About that time I went through a period where it just so happened my then wife and I happened to be unemployed at the exact same time because we had both worked for the same company that had closed up shop. That experience really opened my eyes to just how bad things were getting. We both had experience in the computer/technical world but I had years more of it, had been the installation manager, had many certifications and a degree along with prior military service. All she had was a GED and a couple of years in as my web site designer.

In many instances we applied for the exact same openings and without fail my Ex got called back for interviews over and over. I got zip.Nadda. Even for positions where the "Over qualified" card couldn't be played.

If you are dead set on NOT seeing a problem you can rationalize it with any number of unseen or made up excuses. The same is true from the other side of that coin but when something begins happening over and over and to others in the same situation my "Something is up" sensors start to go off.

The real problem then became that I was not on the same sheet of music the rest of my sphere of the world was on. I was the Black Sheep who wouldn't buy new cars, home schooled his kid, was messing around with things that didn't pay out like bees and gardens. You get the idea. Before this change my interests were limited to hunting and camping type activities. Re-enactment hobbies and the like. By the time the change was complete I was some kind of hermit gun freak who refused to follow the herd and constantly grab for that high paying job carrot.

I understood all to well that carrot was now a sham.

Of course it goes without saying that when you embrace an alternative way of thinking and living from the mainstream you lose an awful lot of credibility and importance.

But the worm is slowly turning these days isn't it?

Have you noticed....

Those same people who even four or five years ago were so happy to announce their up coming early retirement living on huge pensions at taxpayer expense now get a worried look on their faces when you remind them how fragile promises can be. They seek you out asking questions like "How much did your furnace cost and where can I get one?" For the first time in their lives they are dealing with vehicle breakdowns that happen just when the thing is paid off, why for the first time they are actually paying off a vehicle before buying a new one. 

Suddenly you are not quite such the loser they labeled you behind your back. You can see the fear in their eyes and the worry lines starting to form.

The Obama supporter who proclaimed loudly last year "This election was all about me" now laments with emotion about paying for some welfare queen's children with her new insurance premiums. The forty eight year old and still single Government employee now openly wishes she had found a husband in the middle of a conversation about Detroit.

Now where did that come from all of a sudden?

Suddenly the economics of raising your own livestock isn't met with glazed over eyes and indifferent comments. Instead of being an off shoot to a discussion the questions become pointed and focused.

You can see the wheels turning as they ask themselves "Is it too late?"

They better hope it isn't.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!