Prepared

I know that alot of people look on preparedness as a fact of life. This is not being written for them, it's being written for those of you who are stuck in the "It only happens to the other guy" mode.

James Kim and his family wound up stuck in some bad weather. Mr. Kim dies trying to hike out to get help. Sometimes, you need to be your own help. A small kit of survival supplies in the vehicle would have been able to keep everyone safe until help could arrive. Do you have a small kit in your vehicle? If you were on your way home from work and buried your car in a snowy ditch, could you survive until help came? If a Tornado destroyed your town, could you survive until help came? What if your local lake or river overflowed and flooded town, could you survive?

I think too many people fail to ask these questions. Those who do are likely to ask about the End of the World stuff like a camel humper setting off a suitcase nuke or shooting up schools. Or a bio terror event. These may be worth a bit of consideration to be sure, as the Boy Scouts say, be prepared, but what about the simple, everyday stuff that you do that takes you out of your home? Work, groceries, laundry, running out to pay bills? What happens if you get stranded while doing these things that you take for granted everyday?

When I go to work, it involves driving on some back country roads, were I to wind up in the ditch, it could be hours before any kind of help came my way. I carry extra cold weather gear in my truck and since I'm a smoker, I have the capability to start a fire and melt snow for water. I also usually have my lunch box with me that has peanut butter crackers and 3 bottles of water. See? Simple preparedness, thinking about the stuff that might go wrong and being able to take some steps to make sure you live through the problem.

I don't think you have to pack your vehicle full of rations and ammo, but a small kit with some food and water and the capability to start a fire could be the difference between life and death away from home should bad weather come your way. Chance favors the prepared, be prepared.