Society is Not Prepared for a Setback
Kevin Felts 04.09.18
We have lost the real world knowledge that allowed our ancestors to overcome a setback. As much as I would like to believe humanity can overcome pretty much anything, I feel our dependence upon modern technology is handicapping us in the long run.
A few days ago I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with an older lady who grew up in the piney woods here in Southeast Texas. Electricity did not arrive in the area until she was around 26 years old. The time before electricity and refrigerators was a time of canning, eating what they grew, farming, hunting, fishing, and milking cows.
She told me the story of a man who wanted to buy some of the families canned foods they had put up. The tone of her voice changed to one of firmness, “That was all we had to eat. Of course we were not going to sell it.”
In today’s world most young people have never grown a garden, much less ate what they grew. We have become a nation disconnected from our food supply. We go to the grocery store, or fast food place and expect food to be in stock. When stores run out of something, people react in unexpected ways. For example, there have been cases of people calling the police because a fast food place ran out of food.
Over the millennia humanity has faced a number of setbacks. At the end of the last ice age humanity was on the brink of extinction, but our ancestors made it through. During outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague in the middle ages, an estimated 1/3 of Europe died. Yet, here we are today.
What did our ancestors have that we do not? Experience passed from one generation to another. Not book knowledge, but real world experience.
For example, when my brother and I were 5 and 6 years old our dad started taking us squirrel hunting. He would give us instructions on how to walk, what to look for and what to listen for. When we got back to the camp he taught us how to skin the squirrels. Those are the types of real world survival skills no longer known to a lot of people. Since they are not known, they can not be passed down.
Our dependence on modern technology has benefited humanity in numerous ways. However, history has a way of repeating itself. Humanity will face another ice age, another plague, or maybe even nuclear war. With modern technology removed, we are ill prepared to survive.
What’s the solution?
Maybe we should integrate old world survival skills with our modern lifestyle? Have a backyard garden, plant some fruit trees, go fishing, go hunting, return to nature whenever we can. Teach our children food comes from the ground and not from the grocery store. Put the phones down and pick up a fishing pole.
