Last night we had some friends over and we were all sitting around the fire pit drinking beer and talking about politics, history, theology, economics, movies, food, and sometimes all of them at once. Our friend Paul brought up the fact that the government is suggesting that, because of H1N1, people have at least four weeks of food. Pastor Petersen questioned how many people actually have that much food, and, in case of some sort of shortages or breakdown in the supply chain, what we would do.
We have enough food to feed the six of us for about six weeks. Longer if we needed to stretch it. I'm working on building our somewhat depleted food stores back up. I like to have a bit more that that, and I like to have more meat in the freezer.
Pastor asked what I would do if our neighbors were hungry and came over to get food. We have guns and plenty of ammo. Would we fight to protect what we had stored up? What would we do?
I was thinking about that last night when I went to bed, and this morning while I got ready, and was pretty sure I knew my answer. By the time I got to church I knew for sure. If my neighbors were hungry I'd share my food. No question. And by my neighbors I don't just mean my "neighbors." I mean our friends, our church family, whoever. For me, part of the thought behind being prepared in an emergency is that not only could I then take care of myself and my family, I would also not be a drag on the community, and could be in a position to help others.
If someone wasn't happy with sharing and wanted all of my food for himself and tried to take it by force, then I'd probably try to protect it.
5 comments:
I have wondered the same thing. If I work my butt off to store and stockpile, will it do US any good? I think I'd share it with everybody around me. I'm not sure I could even protect my stored goods if somebody should come and want to take it all. (Maybe I'd feel differently when I was actually in the situation??)
I think that if someone was prepared to take it from me by violence, I could and would protect it. But otherwise I'd be sharing.
What about if you have a small child? Do I share knowing that I'm reducing my own 7-year old child's supply of food?
I think I'd still share - but I would hold back enough to be sure that my child (not us 2 grownups) had enough.
Hmmm. I hadn't heard the 4-week thing. Interesting. I should at least stock some Nido.
I would be sure that my small child had enough to eat. I would even make sure that my swiftly growing boys have food. It's so hard to know for sure what we would do in hypothetical situations, but I think I would share as I could and pray for a quick end to whatever the crisis is.
I think that the nature of the crisis and time of year would also impact what I do. Garden season just around the corner would make generosity a lot easier. :)
We talked about this when the gas prices were soaring and prices were going crazy. Not so much in terms of short term distribution issues, but what if there really were another Great Depression? We decided our little town is pretty nice, but we hoped the gas prices would hinder the roving bands of thugs we decided would be roaming the streets in town.
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