Recent events have solidified, in my mind at least, the need for our family to be as self- sufficient as possible. It is obvious that the threads that hold our society together are very thin.
The news is filled with a near constant barrage of negativity. This negativity spurs the imagination of the public at large. The result of which, can be seen in the multiple cases of hoarding and panic buying. I mean for God's sake, people are actually fighting over toilet paper. This madness needs to stop.
When I was in the Military, I learned a very valuable lesson which we called the 6 P's. Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. That is all that really needs to be said. In my mind, there is no way anyone with a computer, mobile device, or television could not have seen these problems coming. We saw the quiet storm brewing back in January and quickly understood that this was going to impact the United States. Yet so few of our fellow citizens, rather out of ignorance or bliss, paid attention to the tea leaves. Many did not take this current nightmare serious enough to prepare. Now its so serious, there may not be enough time left to prepare.
In any given disaster scenario there are always two forces at work. The actual, real impact of said disaster and then there's the public's perception of the disaster. Both seem connected but are in fact independent of each other. What this means is that while we can plan and prepare for any disaster scenario we can't plan for the public's reaction to it. While I knew the U.S. was going to be impacted I never imagine that the public would focus on toilet paper, especially since none of the big V's symptoms involve heavy use of TP. With all of that said, we need to realize that when we make plans, often based on the best information available at the time, that there is another immutable military rule that is always at work.
This simple rule states, "No plan will survive the initial contact with the enemy." what this means is that no matter how professional of a plan you make, there will be outcomes that you didn't foresee,ie. national toilet paper shortages. This rule does not imply that you forgo the planning process just because things will change. Instead, it suggests that you need to build flexibility and creativity into your plans.
On our next post, we will discuss what it means to be self sufficient.
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Episode#5-Sourcing During a Pandemic, Part 2
Episode#4-Sourcing Through a Pandemic, Part 1
Episode#2-Scotty Peelers and the Coronavirus
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