I have taken to just throwing out the odd bait and seeing if anyone bites...if they are interested they ask more, if they are not then I needn't waste my breathe trying to convince them.
Even if we only succeed in helping one other person then to me it is worth it 🙂

Even if we only succeed in helping one other person then to me it is worth it 🙂

I agree!!! 😀

In the end the "I'll just come to your house" attitude is a reflection of society in general. People have been taught to be dependant and to rely on "something" else to look after them. From cradle to grave no one is on their own. There is ALWAYS some kind of safety net. It can be the government... or you... but someone will take care of them. It is the only way they think. The alternative is unfathomable. I highly doubt you will change the majority of people's long ingrained expectations with a little pep talk.

I agree.

But with friends and family do we not all feel obliged to give the pep talk? I think most of us do and then we quit when we receive the cold shoulder. And for me that is fine because I believe that, to a great degree, we are the author of our own destiny. So, if a thinking person is given a bunch of information and choose to ignore it for what ever reason, they are making a choice.

That is where my personal responsibility ends.

Mooswa I absolutely agree. BUT.....with the choice they make comes the responsibility of consequences. Good or bad.

I have a friend at work who is a fellow peeper and has a stockpile of food and supplies. He tells everyone about it and I have heard other staff comment if things go bad they would just go take his stuff!!! People can be ruthless and I don't advertise my location or supplies. If SHTF I would be armed and trust no one. I would be on my own with my son and would take every Precaution necessary. Trust no one. You bring one person in who you though might be a friend and next thing you know they pull a gun and kill you for your supplies This will happen if things go bad. We all need to use caution and should come up with a symbol so we know each other without bringing unwanted freeloaders attention.

I have a friend at work who is a fellow peeper and has a stockpile of food and supplies. He tells everyone about it and I have heard other staff comment if things go bad they would just go take his stuff!!!.

Interesting that they haven't said "We'll just go to his place!"
But that they have just taken the direct line of stealing his stuff...hmmm yes interesting to ponder this!!

I worry that many of my family will be on my doorstep when SHTF. When that happens I do not know what to really do. I can let them in or send them on their marry way. If i let them in I know they have little to contribute in the form of skills or in supplies. Plus that means more of my prep supplies being divided up along with food provisions. Yet they are family. I could just send them on their way, Provide them a few supplies and a blessing. Chances are then you may never see them again. So what do you do?

I worry that many of my family will be on my doorstep when SHTF. When that happens I do not know what to really do. I can let them in or send them on their marry way. If i let them in I know they have little to contribute in the form of skills or in supplies. Plus that means more of my prep supplies being divided up along with food provisions. Yet they are family. I could just send them on their way, Provide them a few supplies and a blessing. Chances are then you may never see them again. So what do you do?

And that is a tough one that only you can answer. Unlike many, I do not automatically classify all family as individuals that I will help regardless of circumstance. Now of course we are not talking about really close family members most of the time, but in truth.......... just because you are related to someone, are you responsible for them even if you dislike them.......... if it jeopardizes your ability to make it with your wife and kids?

I know people who despise their father for one reason or another. I have cousins that I have had nothing to do with my entire life. Just because they are 'family' and heard that I was someone with 'stuff', does that make it my responsibility to take them in?

You can pick friends, not relatives. They just are. Beyond that it is really an individual choice that will be different for everyone on here.

I do not tell anyone anything unless I am ready for them to come in. My parents have helped us build our home. Lent the money for a few months so we could buy the very land we have while the house in the city sold etc etc. We owe them so we prep some supply for them and they know it. I guess the point is not to forget the people who helped you in life so you can help them in life too. Help your neighbors now so that the day you need help you aren't alone either.

I worry that many of my family will be on my doorstep when SHTF. When that happens I do not know what to really do. I can let them in or send them on their marry way. If i let them in I know they have little to contribute in the form of skills or in supplies. Plus that means more of my prep supplies being divided up along with food provisions. Yet they are family. I could just send them on their way, Provide them a few supplies and a blessing. Chances are then you may never see them again. So what do you do?

I don't really feel obliged to help family beyond our own household.
They all live about 5-6 hours away from me in the city, except for my mum who is only 1 1/2 hours away.
I expect that if the SHTF my brothers, sisters and their families may have trouble reaching us anyway but that probably depends how the SHTF.
Apart from that we can I'll afford to prep for others anyway, even extended family.

I ask myself sometimes in regard to family:

"If the SHTF would they welcome us into their home?"

For us the SHTF when our house burned down and I can definitely say there are some members of my extended family that I would tell where to go if they turned up on my door step...not that I like to imitate how others behave, but as is generally the case 'Those that have the most, give the least.'

I don't know about the rest of you but I wasn't born a prepper. It came over a period of time as I was exposed to information and ideas that changed the way I thought about the world and my place in it. Much of it came from the net as I am an avid reader and that is my learning style. I remember a time when I was a sheeple. I didn't know any better. What if no one had taken the time to teach me, challenge my thinking and show me what to do about it?

There are plenty of people in this world to whom I would not bother speaking a word about it - they have such a deeply entreached case of entitlement that there is very little likely hood that they will make a complete transformation and suddenly become someone who thinks for themselves and actually is concerned about how things may pan out in the future.

However, I know many other people who are raising children, going about their every day lives - prehaps somewhat interested in canning or camping or just with an ear to the ground to the problems in society around them. I believe that given some encouragement from a friend (me) and an opportunity to share their fears (which they DO have) SOME will welcome a solution that allows them to have some control over things. I wasn't convinced overnight so I don't expect that a one-time conversation will be all that it takes. I think having a relationship first is important. A flyer in the mail from someone you don't know or a pamplet from the gov that shows up in your mailbox is likely to have less impact IMHO.

I've been reading your comments and thinking back to my own journey. What was helpful to me? How did change come to me? What was it that convinced me? The problem is it was so long ago I can't clearly remember!! 😆 I can think of a small group of friends who I may test my idea on before I go forward with a larger plan. Although the exact HOW is still up for debate I am leaning towards a small group setting.

Still working on it! Keep the ideas and comments coming...

I think there is another group of people as well though...like my brother and his wife!
Too proud and wealthy to think that they could possibly lose control of anything in their lives.
Too up themselves to think that someone so decidedly below them could ever offer them any advice that they would find even remotely interesting let alone helpful! 👿

These are the type of people I take the attitude with of 'You made your bed, now you lie in it' and don't think you'd be welcome around our campfire because we prepared whilst you were busy mocking everything we did.
Bet they'd be acting friendly then though when they otherwise wouldn't acknowledge my presence not even to say hello, god forbid that they would be seen talking to such riff raff 😥

Harsh but true...

I'll get off my little soap box now and when the SHTF I will help one of our financially poor neighbours who gave us $100 when our house burned down, which they could ill afford to do, or our other neighbours who took us into their home and fed us and never once over a long period of time ever made us feel anything but welcome. 😀

I drop hints with people I know and see if they show a spark of interest, otherwise I shut up and keep it to myself.

I'm sure sometime in the past most have us have heard people say: Oh Great I know where to go when the SHTF. There is much talk on the net about privacy and secrecy and some of you have given up talking to your friends about preparedness issues but I feel a need to teach and help others prepare as part of my prepping. I know that may seem a crazy thing to do but where we live and with our family's involvement in the community at large this makes sense for us. My 1st goal is to teach others to prepare and I am working towards a community response solution but that's another post and still in the very beginning stages.

I'm wanting to write a NICE ( dictionary definition: pleasing; agreeable; delightful 2.amiably pleasant; kind).... article/handout/flyer to give to some of my friends who have made the above statement. I know you won't be able to resist with the NOT NICE comments so fire away but don't expect them to make the final cut 😆 😆 😆

a prepper i know in the US, she's a lawyer and a hobby writer/editor. she wrote a very elegrant letter to her friends and family that know she preps but refused to follow her example. her work was shared with me on a private basis so i can't share it with you. . . (and she's a lawyer with a copywrite of it lol) but it sums up the idea that you won't be showing up here!

In my family, I'm the youngest and have the fewest memories of the hardships that we went though. But, I am the only one of my sibblings that is really preparing for the eventual. Even the nephews that think I'm right dont prep, sayin that they dont have the money right now. I tell them, prepping is buying just one extra can of food a week, and putting it away, or a bag of rice, pasta or what ever is on sale. "There is still enough time" they say, and will say right up to the time that something happens. Then they will think of there Uncle that live 2 hours away, and the food that he's put away. "He'll help us,we're family!' But their uncle is no longer there, and neither is his food. God helps those who helps themselves, and so do I, but I wont tolerate fools, even if they're family.
Yes, I'm a cold hearted bastard, but I'll help a stray dog because it had no choice in the matter.

In my family, I'm the youngest and have the fewest memories of the hardships that we went though. But, I am the only one of my sibblings that is really preparing for the eventual. Even the nephews that think I'm right dont prep, sayin that they dont have the money right now. I tell them, prepping is buying just one extra can of food a week, and putting it away, or a bag of rice, pasta or what ever is on sale. "There is still enough time" they say, and will say right up to the time that something happens. Then they will think of there Uncle that live 2 hours away, and the food that he's put away. "He'll help us,we're family!' But their uncle is no longer there, and neither is his food. God helps those who helps themselves, and so do I, but I wont tolerate fools, even if they're family.
Yes, I'm a cold hearted bastard, but I'll help a stray dog because it had no choice in the matter.

Well your not the only cold hearted bastard out there, cause that's pretty much how I view things as well. 😉