ok, everytime Ive been up to try and post a reply, I get pulled away so Ive been saving it up and adding to it whenever I get a chance. Think ill of me if you must, forgive me if you might, just know I have nothing against even one person here.
Seriously, If I woke up and there was a guy with a FEMA shirt banging at my front door, I'd probably run out the back door.
(insert hand clappy smiley)
"It's not their fault, they don't know what they are supposed to do. Their government hasn't shown them the way!" Have there been any advice adverts shown on tv?
My biggest problem with parenting these days. If simple life skills were passed onto children, there would be no need for this. And I just read in Time, (not my favorite magazine but hey, it was better than People over lunch, and their were boys shooting a bow and using a lighter to start a wilderness fire) but I was reading that in the 60’s parents spent 11 hours a week with their kids and now its up to 20. I would have liked to see how they spent those hours and seen another study that compared how much time kids spent joining their parents, learning to do things like set the table, cook, organize a social gathering, ect. They do more shopping and video game playing and little to do with learning because being a kid “should be just fun“ because they “spend enough time learning in school” and “kids shouldn’t have to work, ah, come on, let them be a kid.” Learning skills is what being a kid is about. But now fire drills are being practiced in schools so why wouldn’t other aspects move onto that as well? Because they don’t want the kids to be afraid of something that is all around them. I don’t believe in this sheltering people from reality. That’s why they freak out in situations as you all have been experiencing. But then again, I may not trust how society might chose to teach it. They’ve done a great job making people believe that the bacteria in their home environments is actually more harmful then the chemicals they spread around to kill it.
but I think that the IQ level of british people isn't that high!
Now this is uncalled for. I have seen my share of stupid people of here. I work retail, I could go on and on.
Becky, we live in different countries with different cultures. We may speak the same language, but really we are as foreign to one another as any other country. You may have experiences which justify some elements of survivalism, but you'd have to come and live in England to really appreciate how daft and out of context the import is for us. You have Chicago, we have Llandudno. You've got Los Angeles, we've got Tenby on Sea. Worlds apart Becky. We have had some very bad floods - some of the worst this country has ever seen, but even that doesnt come anywhere near close to the devastation you saw in New Orleans. Generally speaking, our police and army are competant, caring professions - even now in 2007 our police are not armed. It's a different world.
I agree, we are worlds apart. In fact I agree with everything you have said here. While I would definitely enjoy the atmosphere while with those in the UK as there are here, I could not justify self ignorance and spend my life in a bubble pretending that bad isn’t out there. My job as a parent is to teach my children how to look for and prevent bad situations from arising. Not all bad people rise to the ranks as some of the powerful people we have and continue to see. They are one in 20 to 25 and slick as butter. You don’t even know you’ve met them unless you get really close to them. But you are right in the terms you can not go looking for it.
New Orleans was a horrid experience. Though I feel for the people who still endure this tragedy, I can not comprehend some of their lack of ability to think for themselves. There was a little 12 year old boy hanging on for dear life with his mother as the water rose inside their home. They fought for life but finally the mother fatigued and sank. The boy at this time did as any mammal would in such a situation, he started to think for himself. He grabbed a breath, dove into the water and swam out of the window the water was rushing in from to the outside where he finally was able to be rescued. The biggest tragedy wasn’t the way our support groups responded, it was the lack of response from those waiting for someone to help them, waiting out for their own deaths with highly held expectations of someone giving them the help rather than getting out of the way so others who truly could not fend for themselves could be helped.
Our police and army are also competent caring individuals. Our opinion are very twisted here and that is the biggest problem, besides them being fueled by our media. We bring them down verbally, refuse to fund them, raise our children to hate them, will freely use their services, and then hate them more when disaster strikes, even if everything goes picture perfect because they did not prevent the tragedy in the first place. As far as crime goes, it’s the diversity and lack of tolerance that is the problem. Take away the guns and the problem still remains. The only real comment I have about the guns is look at Switzerland.
I agree, I feel this is what some of the members who live outside the UK don’t understand (and I’m really referring to some of the US membership here - By the way, some of the most interesting posts I’ve read on this site are from Americans, Canadians, Scandinavians, Europeans and the Antipodeans and those in the Far East.). As you say, the culture and society in the US is very different, and more diverse in terms of climate, than that in the UK ( but that’s not to say we don’t have a lot in common, in many respects). I admire much about the American people and their cultural traditions.
Nothing is going to "kick-off", we are not facing down armageddon, we are not on the brink of the apocalypse and we are not trying to survive the wholsale destruction of mankind. .
What was it my minister was telling me all my life? I think it had to do with the end of the world as we know it. Realistically, it is something that we all have thought about to varying degrees.
To answer all of this:
Because of the diversity in America, there are million small cultures, depending on the side of the city, town, woodland or side of the country you are standing on. What are our traditions? The holidays we celebrate have to do with celebrating our war veterans and our victories in war, our first encounters with Native Americans as well as traditional European religious holidays. How do we celebrate similar holidays. Do you all do the same things even? Do you all have Black Friday? People here are seen in a crowd squished body to body to try and get one of the latest toys that TV told them was hot this year. They fight and scream at each other. Its no wonder kids throw a fit if they don’t get it for Christmas. They learn that attitude from their parents. I work in retail and this tradition is taken a little differently. Everyone lines up and we hand out tickets for the cheap stuff. Then have two or three back up plans for those who are willing to take the next best deal. But even here, I was run into by a crazed woman driving her car while I was crossing the iced street to my car at 5 months pregnant. We were fine and it was barely a tap by the time the woman decided to break but still. Our American born traditions are fed by madness, money, and a desire to own our freedom while suppressing the freedom of other humans. They have never been fed by deep rooted cultural connections that bring our communities together in a common bonding and understanding.
Don’t get me wrong, up here we have some fun traditions in the various towns. Bean hole days (more our speed, beans are cooked for a few days in a big pot in the ground to perfection), wood tick races, turtle races, (I don’t know what this one is called but here it goes…
Dress up like an idiot such as wearing toilet plungers over your shoes and head, wear a speedo, or other weirdness, in the WINTER and jump into a big hole in the ice on the lake, (Ok, its amusing, but I didn’t say that), car racing on the ice, demolition derby’s---REDNECK gatherings, (I aint never gone to ‘un
), fireworks on the 4 of July, County fairs, and motorcycle gatherings. (Ive got some pics to share from the last week once I get them all in one place.)
SURVIVAL, BUSHCRAFT, and in general, the ways of the Amish are the traditions that we can look to if we want to go deeper than that to a life that is not that far back. To the days when we had to learn how another people thought when we could not speak with them, or learn about plants that we did not recognize, or get use to the flavor of meat we had never tasted before, to look for that freedom we could have never dreamed of in Europe. To make our own tools and toys and beer. To make our own clothes, build our own homes, and show our children the value and pride taken in hard work. Surviving poverty and racial or religious prejudices, trying to offer something deeper to our children when our parents themselves worked hard through the 60’s and 80’s to strip that connection they had with that heritage, are now the traditions many in my generation are looking for. Pop culture is a joke, a glamorous lie, a poorly painted mask that we use to define ourselves in order to be like everyone else rather to truly show that many are reaching inside to find that something different, while at the same time each making stronger opinions that drive each other further away.
You might believe technology is the solution to save the day (such as big "space mirrors" reflecting away all that nasty sunlight and cool the planet a bit), I'm not convinced. I think we need to change the way we live, to reduce the rate we consume resources and to live a simpler life. I'm doing my best to do that I'm one of those cycle to work, recycle everything, organic box scheme nutters.
Unfortunately, I'm in a minority and that leads me to fear that those who think a 4.2 litre turbocharged 4x4 is perfect for a 1 mile school run are going to bankrupt us ecologically speaking. I'm not wishing "doomsday" on anyone, far from that I'm doing all I can. I'm scared that I'm in a minority and a lot of very smart people keep trying to tell us time is *really* running out. After all, a lot of UK crops are ruined this year (I know this because I rely on locally sourced produce) Crops are failing elsewhere too, we might not be able to rely on buying food in from around the globe.
We also feel the devastation. Our yard is brown. We worry about gathering wild foods because the animals need it more. Our corn is suppose to be “knee high by the fourth of July” and it was short enough to see the wilted stalks across each field as we drive by.
It will take one of the big companies doing something notably small to rub our faces in our own shame, and to also show us just how easy this change can be done. We place the responsibility on the oil companies. But it is us who buy it. I truly believe that oil will become the way of VHS and Beta. Everyone wants the latest technology, yet not the highest quality, because cheap is more important. We need to advertise, create competition, show how popular the better way is, and make it affordable, and smaller. That is the only way to win, and it is technology that is already available to us.
I know this is much more complex than this, but say we tap into all the trends that people are interested in right now. Reality TV is popular. If we can get people to watch the ridiculousness of one show, then see a huge boom in copycat shows, and then have people copy what they see in them (such as fear factors contests at my work), I think we could do it this way too. What if Discovery Channel for example took one of the poorest communities in the fuel hungry US and showed a transformation from fuel to energy…in just one year or less? They could show the type of time frames that our governments should be looking at, months vs. years. They could show just how easy it would take to get a community involved. They could show it can be done more cheaply than most realize. Another aspect could be a contest to design the coolest alternative techno-cars for the opportunity for a large industry to create. It would be compatible with all the latest and greatest technology products from Cell phones that will work in your car when you plug them into the car speaker system for a real hand free, volume controllable device, to built in navigation systems and dvd players in the back for the kids. I know they have already done this but I have never seen a season long effort of people trying to make that difference, being able to connect with the day to day struggles and successes of such an effort, make us see the value of the extra money spent. OR how about this one. UK vs. US to see which poor town in each country could beat the other, meet the deadlines and see what creativity creates through the competition. Right now money and power are speaking, keeping the people from believing in a conspiracy that would provoke a change.
But honestly, I see children making the change. They are asking what we are doing to their future. They are holding us accountable, one small step at a time. I saw a little 9 year old handing our tire gauges and teaching adults how to pump their tires up. I know a woman who’s 13 year old college niece is building a car that runs off wind, solar, and battery power and plans to patent it. I see my children ask questions. And outraged when they see someone else being just stupid in public. I should probably tell my daughter to mind her own business. But I believe she is. I should tell her to not be rude. But I feel it is the other person who is, so I tell my daughter, “You are right and go ahead and say what you need to.” There is nothing more shaming then being held accountable by a child.
At least if the ‘doomsday’ comes, or comes earlier than many of us expect, and if it can’t be avoided, then at least those of us here who have played a part in the revival of the crafts of previous generations, will have done something (however modest) to prepare our children and grandchildren to cope with, to some extent, if as you say, we convey those interests, and the skills and knowledge to the next generation of ‘bushcrafters’.
No comment needed.
Becky
