Well I guess Reuters news service puts those of us who believe that being self sufficient, independent and the preparedness lifestyles to take care of ourselves as a Subculture. In a recent article, they interviewed a woman from Virginia, at her home overlooking the Appalachian Mountains who see’s trouble on the horizon. She states that it could all fall apart any minute and she has turned her house into a “survival center” he states. Well how about she is right, it could all fall apart but I think Reuters is still missing the picture or at least the one they want to show around.

They state that ALL of the “Preppers” nowadays are following 2 sources. The first being the hippies of the 60’s and the other the survivalists of the 90’s. I had to read that twice to see if I read it correctly, how could they have missed the most basic reason we Prep. It’s because our Grandpa’s and Grandma’s prepped, but they didn’t call it that. They called it a “Rainy Day”, they knew there were cycles and those of us who have family members that went through the great depression, they prepped because they did not waste anything. Remember “Waste not Want not”?

For my grandparents and great grandparents, prepping was how things were done, nothing more, nothing less. The put up the garden for winter, hunted and hung meat for the winter and were frugal as the day was long. For them to give us a dollar for xmas, that was good cash money and they didn’t part with it easily. When we did get a cash gift, we were told to open a saving account for that “Rainy Day”. Damn if it wasn’t going to rain everyday with them!

The article does list “The Survivalist Blog” by James Wesley Rawles along with a couple of Bloggers in rural areas. Now I agree and disagree with some of  Rawles views, but that’s what I would expect when dealing with the subject of the “Tough Times”. Not all of us in the Prepping movement agree on the what and when of the movement, that’s why I am one voice among many. They quoted a woman from Sweet Briar College who cites the reason for “prepping” is “A sense of suffering and being afraid” the reason for the subculture. On some level I have to agree with her. Our Prepping community is not different than other groups with diverse views and dysfunctionality that can mirror the modern family. So there are those that prep out of fear, not sure about the suffering part though.

If you want to look at one reason we Prep, it’s the loss of control over our lives. With today’s modern life, paced just under the speed of light, it’s no wonder we can get the feeling that there is no steering wheel. As the government stacks up debt, raises taxes, avoids the constitution without any regard for our lives, someone needs to grab the wheel. If we prep as a way of life, we start to put OUR priorites in motion. Starting a garden to grow your own vegetables, chickens for your own eggs, etc. We take back from society the distribution of food in whatever form they want to give us, to what we want and how we want it. We CHOOSE not to participate in the drama, the food stamp programs and welfare hand outs. We take care of ourselves and our community and fly that Gadsen flag!!

In my view, we aren’t the subculture, they are. For generations past, self sufficiency and self reliance was how life was run. So if our forefathers for generations found no reason to expect anything from anyone else, Isn’t this mainstream and debt and government the subculture? Our ranks grow daily, people wake up and ask WTF! Like the Zombies, there will be soon be more of us than of them. Help your neighbor, family member and community to prep, we can make all lives better!