If you’re not OUTRAGED, you’re not paying ATTENTION

Some years ago, I spotted a bumper sticker that read “If you’re not OUTRAGED, you’re not paying ATTENTION”. It was of course a statement directed towards the mechanisms of politics. It has stuck within my mind, and I believe opened my eyes a bit wider to hidden agendas I perceive to be present within that realm.

In reading an article and following blog comments about the Connecticut shootings it became apparent that the “blame game” and “good vs. evil” are alive and well. Some say evil does not exist, just mental illness. I say if you’re going to do away with “evil” then you would have to do away with “good” as well. They represent the opposite sides of the same coin. Hot/cold, day/night, wet/dry, horizontal/vertical, thin/thick, life/death….you get my meaning. Without one the other ceases to exist. Our own individual ability to decipher the difference between the two extremes based on scripting, life experience, and perception allows each and every one of us a scale in which the gray matter falls and where we attempt “balance”. I believe that there are many physical realities or reasons on a global scale, that give us “unbalanced” individuals in society, more now than ever before.

“Actions speak louder than words”, a phrase I grew up hearing often. Do I “act” on everything I hear? No, I do not. I did not act on the Y2K, at least no more so than normal. Nor did I act when I saw family members some years back buying up rolls of duct tape and sheet plastic at the local Wal-Mart because of some bio-chemical warfare that was suspected to take place. I simply go about what I deem “normal” life, for if there were a global fall-out of such magnitude, I don’t think I’d care to survive it, instead, I plan on planting the garden, mending the fences, picking the wild edibles and leaving the rest to my Creator.

I was raised by a very religious grandparent who tried ardently to pass on the fear binding teachings of “Hell”, but at the same time taught self-reliance in as much as “God helps those who help themselves”, “waste not want not” and the “Golden Rules” of conduct towards your fellow man/woman. The Scriptures taught them that it was “Godly” to provide for your family, and that a man that didn’t was worse than a man without faith. No one sat back awaiting a hand out.

The generation that came to survive the Great Depression of 1929 understood, the only one you could count on to provide for your family was YOU. Generations before that, the early settlers just knew these tasks as the essentials of life. You grew what you could, when you could, and preserved as much of it as you could because there just wasn’t a supermarket down the block. “Make hay while the sun shines”. They collected and dried herbs for their medicinal needs as well. Did this make them “crazy extremists”? Hardly, it made them wise, and prepared for whatever storm life may throw their direction. When there was a doctor that could see to an ailment, he certainly had no problem taking a few chickens for payment, doctors have to eat too. The “Barter” system was alive and well way back then, but today, if you save something because it may be of use sometime down the road, weather for personal use, or trade, you’re “crazy”.

So tell me, why is it, that in these days and times, when an individual or a group of individuals network their knowledge to provide the best that they can for their families and neighbors, society stereo-types them as “crazy or radical”? I would venture to say that a good +90% of the U.S. Population watches television. How can you ignore all the commercials on prescription medications where the pharmacies have either created a new “cure-all” or the ambulance chasers are advertising yet another class action lawsuit filed against them over the last “cure-all”? To me, the insanity lies within the individuals that would foolishly believe that these large companies and the FDA have their best interests and those of their families at heart. How many recalls does it take for the general public to wake up and take a look at what has taken place? Why are so many of us “dumbed down”?

It takes no real effort to look up into the sky these days and see things we did not see as children, not because we WERE children, but because they WERE NOT there. The powers that be try daily to pass bills that diminish our rights to provide the best we can for our families. Our children’s sack school lunches, metering private water wells, firearm control, mandatory inoculations and the lists go on and on. Should one be concerned enough with the welfare of their family that they research the pros and cons of any subject and then elect to not participate in something that society or the government has deemed necessary. Suddenly that individual has something “wrong” with their way of thinking or their judgment, as they elected not to “go with the flow”.

My opinion is this; Life is choice. We are all inherent of that God given freedom. I believe choices should be thought out, not crammed down your throat. I am not political, that is my choice. I am human; imperfect, fallible and sometimes naive. I prepare to the best of my abilities to provide for my loved ones and family. While this type of lifestyle has been recently labeled as “Prepping”, it is the lifestyle in which I was raised, as was my mother, and grandmother, and great grandmother. It is nothing new to me outside of the term “Prepper”, which in itself still makes me giggle at times. I like to grow my own food; it’s of higher quality than what I can buy at over inflated prices. I like to gather and grow my own herbs, they have stood the tests of time and I don’t have to worry about recalls. My eggs have been handled correctly, there are no growth hormones in the meat I raise or hunt and I’d be a fool NOT to preserve what I have worked so hard to provide. Several members of the animal kingdom grow, gather, and cache their food supply….suppose they’re crazy too?

My heart goes out to the victims’ families of the Connecticut tragedy. Please do not let the mainstream media furrow your brow with the labeling they do, they simply could not care less. Remember, it’s the “madness” that they rely on for ratings, rarely do they report on the good things and movements that take place in the world, or a lot of us would have camera crews in our green houses and gardens right? Take care of each other, stay focused and be prepared.

Teresa Cartwright

Email Teresa at foraging4life@gmail.com

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