But what can we do?
Ok… so which one of you clowns pushed the self destruct button? Edited... again... This is the Mk1 Mod3 version of this post...
Does it seems like the whole world is about to blow up or something? Or is it just me? Judging by the posts, reactions, and comments on antisocial media, the propaganda networks news, and notes here on substack I’d say that I’m not the only one thinking that something bad is about to go down.
Here’s where I supposed that I differ from everyone else… I don’t care who is to blame. It doesn’t matter to me. Not because I don’t believe that people should be held accountable but because there is simply nothing that I can do about it and continuing to get spun up on whatever is going on will not help me to prepare for the future. It’s enough for me to know that there is trouble coming and it could very likely happen in the area where I live. Or maybe it doesn’t… I don’t know what is going to happen and neither do you, I just have an idea that something is going to happen. That’s really all any of us can deduce from the headlines.
In my view, all of the worrying and emotions over world events are much the same as those from watching sportsball, playing video games, or watching dancing with the stars or whatever else it is that we watch instead of actually going and doing something. It feels like we are accomplishing something when we argue about whatever ideological position we take but in reality all we’ve managed to do is burn up a little more of our time here on earth.
I’m not being self-righteous and pointing my finger at anyone, I’m just as guilty as the next person in fretting over geopolitics and what other people are doing to screw up the works. I understand that there is a need to follow and try to understand what is happening in the world but there is a point where it is not only wasteful, it’s an unhealthy and unproductive use of the only resource that really matters in our life; the short amount of time that we have here on this earth. No matter how much I read and study about what’s going on in this world, I am pretty much powerless to change it. These events are outside of my “geographical sphere of influence”, outside my bubble and so I need to find some productive use of my time that is within my “geographical Sphere of Influence”.
Not everything that happens in the world effects all other parts of the world equally. What if something major goes down in my area? What if nothing happens? Or at least anything serious happens in my area? How do I prepare myself for something that I believe is going to happen but can’t be sure of? Well here goes my thoughts on the matter…
Regardless of the headlines and whatever is driving the emotions of the world, all of the drama in the headlines is temporary. We are heading for a time of trouble and struggle, no doubt, but those times end and then the rebuilding process begins. We as a nation need to rebuild certain things right now anyway and those things will be needed in the future just as they are now so why not put the electronic mind control device down and go learn some new skillz.
It seems to me that we have a choice as to how we spend our time and if we spend our time worrying about the future then we will not only become more compliant when the time comes to resist but when the dust finally settles, we won’t know how to build back what was lost. It takes time to acquire tools and to develop the skills needed to make the best use of them. People don’t rise to the occasion, we fall to the level of our training and whatever you have prepared your mind for is where your mind will go when trouble comes.
So what is it that we need to be learning? What skills should we be training and practicing? I believe that is a personal choice and is up to you. Some examples of what I believe people should be learning is survival skills, gardening, basic medical skills, making all kinds of things, fixing things, and studying. Maybe not all of those but certainly a couple of them at any rate.
We Americans have stopped reading anything of substance, we have stopped studying, we have stopped being curious about the world, and we have stopped thinking deeply about the hard topics in our world. Our knowledge and critical thinking ability is bumper sticker thick and this must be repaired just the same as our industrial infrastructure and manufacturing base needs to be repaired. Contrary to popular belief; not every one can farm, build something, or repair things. The ones that are really good at the critical areas of society read and study what it is that they are working to be the best at. Nothing is as simple as it seems on the surface.
Fighting and warfare are some good things to learn about as well and If you think that fighting is what you need then by all means, get to training. Just make sure that you are fully committed to constantly training and by that I don’t mean the typical American gun owner’s version of training, which usually only consists of going to a 25 yard indoor range once a year and shooting a box of bullets at a stationary target.
If you think that fighting is what you need to be learning then you’d better be committed to physical fitness, combatives training, force on force training, martial arts (not because of techniques but because its a good way to force yourself to get up after getting knocked down when you’re tired and in pain) and pretty much anything else that you can find to produce as much misery and emotional stress as you can. Also make sure that you are committed to reading and study as well. If fighting is what you want to do, then you had better be committed because it is a the ultimate game and you had better be sure that you are willing to die for your cause.
I mention this because that seems to be the usual topic that men think they need to master and even though self defense is always a good thing to learn, not every man is a warrior. Its just the way that it is and there is nothing wrong with committing yourself to learning to work with your hands and being a craftsman/tradesman.
Much of our industrial base has been sold off to China and other third world nations. With the selling off of that base went the knowledge of how to do whatever that industry did… Making steel is not a simple process. Drilling for oil and refining it into something useful is not simple. Growing food on a large enough scale to feed a city is not simple either. All of these these industries, and more have been decimated over the decades, but they are all vital to our nation. But, each industry took generations to build and generations of knowledge went away each time a piece was sold off.
Infrastructure and, well just about everything industrial is not built exactly according to drawings and blue prints or operated according to the manuals written by an engineer who never actually built or operated anything. Though the manuals and the blueprints are used as guides, these systems and industrial facilities are built, repaired, and operated according to knowledge gained through experience that has been passed down over generations from one tradesman to the next.
We have to build this knowledge base back and it is going to take time. Now… I get that I can’t build a steel mill in my back yard. Trust me, if I could build a steel mill in my back yard then I would already have one… and my subscribers who actually know me can vouch for this. But I can (and have) build a simple blacksmith forge, hobby foundry or welding shop in my garage. I can learn to weld. I can learn to build and fix things from metal.
Maybe I can’t have a sawmill (yet), but I can get some woodworking tools and start building things to sell online or at a farmers market, or volunteer to help make repairs to someone’s house who needs some help. I can learn to change my own oil and maybe buy some old lawnmower to tinker with so that I can learn how stuff works. There is something that I can do to improve my actual skills but I have to choose to do that. I have to overcome whatever barriers are in my head which are keeping me glued to the phone or to the computer.
Never in the history of the world has there been more access to information than right now. There are tons of videos on everything you can think of. Used books are cheap. There are tons of resources online where you can read on any topic you want and a good many are free. Go check out Archive.org and search for anything you can think of and chances are that you’ll find it and will be able to download the resource.
Consider this, one hundred years ago technical training and industrial training was conducted through correspondence courses. You bought the book, answered the questions, and then mailed the answer sheet to the school. Many of those books are still around and the information is still relevant.
Something that doesn’t get mentioned much is to go spend some time with old tradesmen and craftsmen. They can usually be found working at museums that are active in crafts and trades. That means that you may have to volunteer at the museum doing work but that’s kind of the point of this article anyway. Those old guys will give you more information than you can image and they WANT to talk about their work and what they did. You would be helping them out just as much as you’re being helped. The silly thing about this paragraph is that I friend of mine in the comments made this suggestion. That’s not the silly part… the silly part is that I have volunteered at museums to restore airplanes just so that I could learn about old airplanes from old guys aaaannnd I have been a volunteer at a museum ship as the old(ish) guy that wants to run off at the mouth about how the machinery and the ship worked and was built… We’re out there, go pick our brains and learn some stuff.
You can spend a day on the youtubes watching music videos or reaction videos (where people watch people reacting to a video… still trying to figure out how that’s a thing…) or you can spend a day watching videos on how something works or how to build some kind of thing. Build yourself a small library of books for whatever practical and physical craft you have an interest in. It doesn’t matter what you study so long as your interested in it. Without catastrophe, the world needs more people that can do something productive. When the trouble finally does come, problem solvers will be needed even more. Problem solving takes creativity, experience, and it takes skills. Experience takes time and the willingness to fail at something so that you can learn more about it and grow.
Our future, assuming that we survive the next few years, is not going to be global or national. It will be local and through small groups and community supporting each other. Now is the time to start developing your craft and you abilities, whatever they may be, and your local area will need what you know.
I fully believe that we are heading for a time when technology won’t be as prevalent or trusted in our lives as it is today due to the fragile nature of the technology that makes our world work. Manual skills, trades, and crafts will be more useful in the future than they are at the moment. Those are just my thoughts on that. I could be wrong but I don’t think so…
I read and hear folks ask, “but what can we do?” when these conversations about world events come up. I’m assuming that they are asking “what can be done to stop what seems to be coming?” and the answer is that there is nothing that can be done to stop it, or as the “Q” people used to say (and some probably still say), “Nothing can stop what is coming”. It’s the way of the world and has always been the way of the world. The world that we in the west have been living in for the last 80 or so years has been an unprecedented time in human history and will come to an end. The only thing we can do is learn what we can now so that when the time comes we will be able to use our knowledge and tools to make things better and to help those around us.
Well… that’s it for this one. I just got home from being offshore for a month and wanted to write something so this is what I have to offer for the moment. Thanks for following along. Feel free to subscribe, like, share, or comment if you want, or don’t… whatever… So far as I have planned, subscriptions will be free and you can unsubscribe whenever you want. I hope that you have a blessed day.
Fair winds and following seas,
Nate
appreciate ya. been insanely busy trying to market my dang book series and stuff. I'm still around. folks I can vouch for Trinity, he makes legit tools.
One GREAT way to learn things that seem to have been forgotten is to foster relationships and have conversations with what's left of the generations that came before us. I have gained so much knowledge about mid 50s vehicles from a good friend of mine that was there when they were new. He was a carpenter and a mech for 60 years! At 86 years old he loves to talk about both!