Our civilization is quite advanced, making it even that much more important to prepare for any number of things that could go awry, and calling upon the use of something as simple as food storage. See, when any system gets so far advanced and inclined towards such high levels of technological specialization in so many varied facets, it becomes increasingly more susceptible to a breakdown or interruption, because when just one part of the whole becomes dysfunctional it creates a domino effect throughout. Just as happened with the housing market. And to make an analogy most can appreciate, how helpless do you feel when your car gadgetry malfunctions? When you car windows won’t roll up nor down with just the click of a button, do you sometimes long for the manual window-roller-uppers?

Although not caused by a defect in the normal “man”-aged workings of society, we can see how a “change” in the status quo will cause mass chaos, as witnessed by a series of big hurricanes a few years back. What happens? Many basic essentials are the first to fly off the store shelves, and this surely includes food. Food storage, water storage, 72 hour kits, and other emergency supplies collected far in advance could prevent this mad rush to a grocery store—only to find that crowds of people made it there before you did, leaving very little left of the significant items for you to purchase. Remember, this is not an apocalyptic event, just nature taking its course. Recall also the pictures on television those people who waited until the last minute before evacuating and being stranded on freeways for hours at a time because of overtaxed capacity. If you are going to get out of Dodge, do it before everyone else decides to!

In his book, “Making the Best of Basics,” author James Talmage Stevens speaks of an in-home food storage convenience store. Aside from disastrous situations, how nice would it be to never “run out” of an ingredient needed for a recipe, not having to run to the neighbors for an item to complete the mix? What if you should forget that you have no more diapers in the home and your baby has a bout of diarrhea? Even if the store is close, it’s nice to have a backup supply.

We have learned in recent years that the unexpected can and does happen. “Nobody saw it coming!” was the common refrain in response to the economic crisis. In times of volatility and uncertainty, could there be a trucker’s strike, or exceedingly high gas prices that cause a disruption in the supply chain delivering food to the marketplace? This and many other unforeseen scenarios could happen, thus bringing to the forefront the need for food storage and emergency supplies. With the advanced JIT (Just-In-Time) concept of inventories, it is said that grocery store shelves could be emptied in 3 days or less. But, if you have an in-home food storage convenience store as part of your wise and prudent emergency preparedness efforts, you’re not among those who panic. We’re not talking about Armageddon or the Apocalypse here. We’re just talking about good, old-fashioned common sense.

Food really can go missing from grocery storage shelves as attested to by even recent articles found here and here. Got food storage?

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James speaks of all of the distractions that prevent us being prepared for whatever type of emergency or disaster that is becoming ever more plausible for us to face, regardless of our “it couldn’t happen to me” mindset.  He speaks of our societal practice of by and large living from hand to mouth.  Much of this is derived from our interdependence and affluence/prosperity.  Our self reliance is in large measure voluntarily left by the wayside because we are able to store value.  Money is a store of value, and it allows us the freedom to specialize in something and in many ways to expect that others will specialize in the something else’s that we want.  Instead of exchanging directly our goods or services for that which we want or need, we can remove ourselves from trade and bartering, which may become an inconvenience if a would-be trading partner doesn’t need or want what we have to offer.

Were we to have to trade/barter for that which we wanted and needed, we would likely be much more self reliant because of the hassle of either not finding someone who wanted or needed what we had to offer in exchange for the item they offered that we found so much utility in, or alternatively we may not often get a “fair” trade, falling short of our asking price.  We would probably then do our best to become a Jack of More Trades, instead of merely a Jack Squat.

I’m all for money, don’t get me wrong.  I love the conveniences and abundance that life offers because of a medium of exchange, and for the simple fact that I can concentrate and focus my efforts in becoming very good at what I do, not requiring me to spend time to be able to excel in every single area.  But has money and the freedom are carelessness that it affords caused me to disregard my personal responsibility as it relates to my survival, especially in a disaster?  To some extent, most people are guilty of this.

During the current economic downturn, there have been those that were once princes who are now paupers.  Reveling in the excesses that were afforded them during boom times, they risked much and have paid dearly.  Some have risked so much that they will never catch up or return to their former station in life, economically speaking.  Imagine those who were looking forward to retirement who will now have to work far beyond what they formerly expected to.  To help calm their ill and unsettled feelings over the whole mess many rationalize along with the media that nobody could have seen it coming.  Common sense proves otherwise.  There were warning signs stacked up miles high as far as the contrarians were concerned.  But as once “Princely” CEO put it—“When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated.  But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.  We’re still dancing.” (Chuck Prince, former CEO of Citigroup)  Sure, throw caution to the wind, and mortgage your future.  Sounds a lot like the scriptural passage: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”  Contrarians pick out these subtle signals and are prepared far in advance, recognizing clear patterns from history, and not being a victim of thinking that history will not repeat itself this time because, as a professor once told me in regards to there not being another Great Depression, “The Fed is so much more sophisticated.”

Closer to home, were you prepared for the economic fallout, a disaster type that COULD HAVE been averted (collectively and individually)?  Were you over-leveraged in your investments (home included), living a lavish lifestyle, or did you live within your means?  Was a credit card your vice?

Some of those who now live in tent cities strewn across the country’s landscape once had it good, and now regret their prodigal life and not having set aside what they could have for a rainy day.  What many of us did have in times of prosperity could have easily been shaved off the top and sacrificed by saving for more meager circumstances, in many cases EVEN WITHOUT having to give up special occasional indulgences to satisfy our need for the niceties of life.

Realizing that most disasters are likely brought upon ourselves by ourselves (directly or indirectly), is it too late to change?  Absolutely not!  James points out that an awakening can and is happening.  I believe that money can be transformed from being our master by enslaving us (excessive debt) to being our servant by being used as a tool.  We can invest it in the only true form of wealth—the precious metals, which are not so much a hedge against inflation as they are a hedge against mismanaged government.  And in the meantime, we can become more fulfilled by learning life sustaining self reliant skills, having food storage, and practicing emergency preparedness principles so that no matter which kind of disaster we may face, natural disaster, human-caused or personal disaster, we can confidently come out the victor, living through it to see another day!  Don’t let money be your distraction, disguising the fact that all of what is now available will not always be.

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How can running a marathon be part of emergency preparedness?

Well, have you ever tried to run away from your wife when she’s chasing after you with a frying pan?  That’s a real emergency!  You can’t go as fast if your only excercise has been lifting your hand to your mouth to insert potato chips (and sometimes blinking your eyes so they don’t dry out).

Actually, my wife has never chased after me with a frying pan or anything else, though she may have wanted to.  Let’s talk about some of the real reasons why someone would want to be physically fit for an emergency.

You see, my buddy, Hyrum Oaks, who runs the Utah Valley Marathon, is a great example to me (like all the commas?).  He is in good physical condition!  If he were ever in the outdoors, and someone in his party was in danger because of an accident and they couldn’t move, he could hightail it down the mountainside and get to within cell phone calling distance in no time.  That’s because my buddy Hyrum has trained for a marathon.  He has endurance.  He has discipline.  He trains hard, and he is ready physically and mentally for emergency situations that call upon his physical fitness stamina.  Kudos to Hyrum and all you other marathon runners.  My buddy T.J. and my other friend Julie also run like the wind.  Maybe they will light a fire underneath my sad rump some day, and I will get motivated to run a marathon and lose some weight in the training process.

Let me tell you about another friend of mine.  My buddy, Dr. Roger Lewis, is a quite an inspiration (BTW, his son is Chad Lewis, of Philadelphia Eagle football fame.  Methinks Chad got some of his courage and strength from his dad, Roger.).  He started his marathon running career in 1978 when I was 4 years old.  He ran the Deseret Marathon twice and the Boston Marathon once.  The way he got inspired to take on the grueling challenge of a marathon is of special intrigue.

Dr. Lewis watched a movie called “See How She Runs” starring Joanne Woodward.  In the movie she was a normal, ordinary housewife who got it in her head that she wanted to run a marathon.  Well, run a marathon she did, and though she didn’t finish before the sun went down and the endtape for the finish line was long removed, her beloved husband was at the finish to greet her and congratulate her with the car headlights shining their beams as a beacon for her.

Roger thought if she could do it, “I sure can.”  So he did what any thinking man would do, and subscribed to Runner’s World and followed their training programs.  He started training with his internist doctor friend, Lyman Moody, running every Saturday morning.

One other inspiration for Roger was an article he read in Reader’s Digest in the late 60′s by an aerobics expert.  The article said to measure the distance for how far you could run in 12 minutes, and by that you could tell if you were a poor runner, average, good, or very good.  Roger got a score of “average” and thought to himself, “I’m a doctor, and doctors aren’t average at anything!”

Roger’s first marathon finish time was 3 hours and 24 minutes.  He bettered that in the Boston marathon to 3 hours and 6 minutes.  He wanted to break his 3 hour barrier in his third marathon, but he weighed in at 3 hours and change again.  He figures the diahrrea may have had something to do with slowing him down.

The Boston Marathon is relatively flat.  Roger feels that the “Heartbreak Hill” is rather like a wimpy mole hill compared to the Deseret Marathon’s “foot-slapping” real down hill terrain.   After running the Deseret Marathon he would have to make sure there was a firm chair beneath him in order for him to be able to collapse into because his thighs were so sore.  Not so with El Bostonio.

Roger defined for himself the definition of running: a better than 7 minute mile; jogging was a 9 minute mile. He continued trying to better a 7 minute mile so that he could break his 3 hour barrier, but finally decided there was diminishing returns with his efforts, and that he would run for the “health of it”  from there on out.

Roger continued running with his buddies, and found his time getting to more than 10 minute miles, and he couldn’t keep up with his motley crew.  He was diagnosed with endocarditis, with a hematocrit of about 33.  He suffered a stroke in 1990, but even after that he still forged ahead with physical fitness training, and although he can’t run a marathon, he did take on Mount Timpanogos, and became “King of the Hill,” cresting it’s peak with a rope tied around him so he wouldn’t fall off (due to the effects of the stroke) one day in 2001.

If you really want to be prepared for the disasters, catastrophes, and emergencies that life throws at you, learn a thing or two from a courageous example like I have pointed out above.  You probably won’t really realize how far out of shape you are until you are forced into action to take care of an emergency by your own resources, including your body’s strength, energy, and endurance.  True, some people have such an adrenaline rush that they can lift a car if need be.  But you can’t count on that.  You need to be exercising daily, preparing in advance, and maybe like my friend T.J., go out for the Iron Man!

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