OT: A Brief Essay for GIs: The Reason We Prep

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I'd like to coin another term for those of us who woke up at some point in the past three years and realized the US Government and Corporate America were not going to tell the truth about the Millennium Crisis. Or, as I like to call it, "Titanic America". Yes, a new term for those of us who began preparing like mad men and mad women trying our best to pretend to run our day-to-day lives as normally as possible, all the while researching the hell out of this issue, and simultaneously begin making major life changes in order to protect ourselves and our families from an uncertain hell. The term I found on this forum is GI. "The Get Its". The term I've spun up is this: The Millennium Warriors. Being called a GI confuses me with the Sargent Rock comics my brother used to read when we were kids, or, with the GastroIntestinal tract that inhabits the lower part of the body. I'm not a General Inductee in the army, and, well, I do have a GastroIntestinal tract. But the writer/storyteller in me wants to be associated with something more inspiring! Oh yeah, I hear the cynics cry, what romantic crap this is, the Millennium Fucking Warriors!?? True, on one level. People are going to suffer and die if this Y2K thing gets out of hand. So its a serious topic. I got that much. On the other hand, in the midst of this insane preparation the GIs, er, Millennium Warriors, are doing to prepare for the worst, it is all too easy to lose one's humanity in the process. How many GIs are ready to blow somebody's head off to save their skin? Too many. Me, I'm ready to die, and I'd rather die than kill. My view is, if you will kill to survive, you're afraid of death. (Hey, from my Zen perspective, this life ain't to be loved that much.) But it isn't just this bizarre concept of -killing to survive- that dehumanizes us. It the anticipation and eventual reality that for those who have gotten out of the way of the brunt of the head on collision with Y2K, we must sit by while millions of our fellow global citizens suffer and die. How can we be without compassion in the face of this tradgedy? Someday soon we will have to face the demons unleashed by this stupid fucking computer problem. When we do, it will be like war. And it will feel like war. And it will smell like war. And it will taste like war. And you may wish you hadn't prepped, and we're taken out in the first wave, mercifully. So my point is, on this forum and in our daily lives, there will come a time when we must return our focus to our humanity and away from our preps. Away from the stock market collapse and the price of gold bullion. Away from sawed-off shot guns and the bunker mentality. Away from the fear and anxiety that we fantasize an 8,9 or 10 will bring. When that time comes, we must turn to each other, and breathe deep, and begin to reach out and be humans again. To laugh and tell stories. To play music. To read poetry. To shoot the shit over a cup of joe. To realize life just isn't THAT FUCKING IMPORTANT. Your kids need your smile. Your brother who's called you a lunatic for prepping will need a bed in the back room. The old neighbor next door who hasn't a clue about Y2K will need the warmth of your wood stove, and a cup of hot soup. At some point, in this war, YOU are going to be the one's with the strength, the stamina and the guts to lead those around you through the valley of death. It is then you will understand why you are Millennium Warriors, and not merely GIs. Its late, get some sleep, tomorrow's a new day for preppin', and a new day to start livin', you Millennium Warriors, you. Thanks to the entire forum for helping me stay focused. You're a great bunch, I don't care what Kosky says about you. GW ......

-- greg walsh (walshbros1@aol.com), September 30, 1999

Answers

Greg,

Hey, what about GI..gubmit' issue?? The reason I prep is that I like to eat!!! To hell with the pollys, yuppies, and any other fool who doesn't have a clue. Darwin is in charge of this thing. It's called natural selection and we'all is the experiment!! "It's gettin time to start thinnin' the herd. Add me to the MFW list. Got ammo??

-- ripley (ubready@soon.net), September 30, 1999.


hey i heard he also had said something regarding the fact that he didn't realize people would take it as seriously as he had, that it was only a "theory". wish i could find the source for the statement.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), September 30, 1999.

Greg:

I can't agree with you more! We already live in a world where only the strong and the powerful rule. Do we want to duplicate that which has not worked to the benefit of all people? They say a culture can be judged by the way they treat the very old and the very young. We are our brothers' keeper. For myself I have laid in supplies beyond what I hope my immediate family will need. Why? Because I doubt I look into the faces of the starving and just turn away. (I don't honestly know for sure until I come face to face with it)If we are hoping for a better world it is incumbant upon us to work to that end. Neither do I cling to tightly to this physical plane. Death does not always come as an enemy. Sometimes living at all costs can rob us of the very things that make life worth living. Don't get me wrong - I am prepared to defend as well as share (guess it depends on who's doing the asking)

Morrighan

-- Morrighan (matotipi@worldpath.net), September 30, 1999.


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