Homestead mailing list

[rayzentz AT aim.com]

I have been following this conversation with interest.

First of all, I am neither a survivalist, nor a homesteader. However, both 
have skills that I feel I should learn. Why? Let me elucidate (I like that 
word)...

Many years ago (relatively - some of you are a bit older than I) I learned to 
only worry about things I control. Life was fairly peaceful as a result, and 
I continued through life.

A few years ago, I learned that I control NOTHING. Only my attitude, and how 
I react to things, and not even always that.

As a result, I worry about nothing, and really, fear nothing.

Worrying about nothing, and fearing nothing, does not mean, however, that one 
does nothing.

I try to see what is coming, and prepare for it, the best that I can. 
Sometimes this means meeting people at their level, and accepting what they 
offer, whether I personally agree with them, or not.

Do I agree that you "Homesteaders" are ready for anything? No. However, you 
have a mindset and skillset that could be useful to me, and my family, if a 
particular "future" occurs. So, I listen, and try to learn from you.

Do I agree that you "Survivalists" are ready for anything? No. However, you 
have a mindset and skillset that could be useful to me, and my family, if a 
particular "future" occurs. So, I listen, and try to learn from you.

Do I believe a future is going to occur that will require me to live off of 
my year's supply of food? No. However, I have been advised by my church 
leaders to have it, and to be prepared. Regardless your mindset, "be 
prepared" is good advice. So, I have stockpiles of various supplies that 
would be hard to find in various "potential futures", and I am learning 
skills and mindsets that I can use when I too, decide enough is enough. 
However, I am not there yet.

I am enough of a student of human nature to realize that most of my "peers" 
are good people. however, when bad times hit, reason sometimes flies away. 
Fear then rules. So, I prepare for that, as well. I will be more than willing 
to share what I have, with pretty much anyone that asks. However, those who 
try to take will find me in much the same frame of thought that Bob, 
apparantly not seriously, brought up earlier. In that situation, I would be 
most serious, and so, I believe, would Bob.

The boy scouts instilled in me the motto "Be Prepared". I don't do this out 
of fear, however, but rather, prudence. I would rather be prepared for 
something that never happens, than not prepared if it does.

Ray