The New York Times profiled a simply insane woman in western Massachusetts who wrote a book called Just in Case: How to Be Self-Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens. The woman was galvanized into survivalism when “after 9/11 — and certainly after Hurricane Katrina — I realized that, holy smoke, the cavalry doesn’t always charge in to rescue you.” So she’ll rescue herself and her family, with her “wicked good” grain grinder, her pressure canner, her solar oven, and “enough cooking oil to open a restaurant.” She also maintains a huge assortment of powdered and freeze-dried products as well as survival backpacks for each member of her family, “each containing a variety of supplies like water, tinder and flashlights,” which are kept readily at hand in the family’s mudroom.
The thing is, how can anyone presume to be qualified enough to write a book on how to prepare for the unexpected? She herself has never dealt with the unexpected. In fact, by simply preparing, she is in fact preparing for some expected scenario where her grain grinder and powdered milk will come in handy.
I have speculated about my fate in the event of near-armageddon, the type that leaves pockets of human survivors to eek out existence against the harsh realities of a destroyed civilization. Odds are, as an urbanite with no pre-existing survivalist preparation and no guns, I would quickly perish. Optimistically, I would abscond to the mountains with my camping gear and live off of roasted amphibians and fuchsia berries, or hunker down in an abandoned farmhouse with a serendipitous supply of canned food, or move into the Boston Public Library and learn to hunt rats.
But mostly, I try to live for the now. I do prepare for the future that is most likely to occur given the current trajectory of life — I squirrel away money for retirement, I have 5-year and 20-year investments, I seek out skills with which to pad my resume, I eat swiss chard — but I can’t imagine preparing for unexpected, cataclysmic events that are outside the realm of probability. (Though maybe after 4 more years of George W. Bush, I would.)
