Family: Your Secret Weapon

The greatest asset anybody will have in the coming social/economic tumble will be his immediate family. So if one chooses to do nothing else than just wait to see what happens he should rekindle the family fire by getting in touch with as many people on the tree as he knows. Now is the time to kiss and make up while there is still a semblance of law and order. You are going to need each other soon.

Because I grew up in a violent, totally dysfunctional family I personally never felt I had one. As soon as I could reach the doorknob I was gone. Oh, I came around for food and a bed, but somewhere along the way I had totally disassociated myself from the rest of them. I stood in one room staring at three strangers who happened to be my father, my mother, and my sister, while they stood in another. That's all I can remember.

Therefore once I got married I didn't do so very well with my own. I tried, but man, I screwed up big time. It was like I was a ten year old who just stole a car and decided to go for a joy ride. Along the way I picked up a pretty girl hitch hiking and in the excitement of the moment decided to marry her. Of course it all ended in a divorce cause my wife was just as bad and as young and as dumb as I was.

It took my daughter to teach me about family, and only then after she married into a large Italian one and I got to observe it first hand to see how it's supposed to work. I used to sit and watch the in-laws during a family gathering and think, “wow man, so this is how it's supposed to be. I could really go for having a family like this.” Well now I do.

Those guys taught me far more through observation, and far better, than Dr. Phil with all his degrees ever could. Besides ain't that how puppy mutts learn? By watching the old hound dogs and mimicking their ways? Well this old mutt done learned a huge lesson in reverse. (by watching the kids)

When I was in the army in Asia I used to go into a village and wonder how all those people could live so close without killing each other. A little hut spilling over with family members would be my greatest nightmare, thought I'd rather live amongst, and be safer with, the pigs under the hut.

Of course I lived practically on top of a whole platoon of soldiers, but we weren't natural family. The guys in my platoon were my brothers. Those people back home were not even close to that.

In the US I have built huge houses for two people. Most homes I've built had private bed rooms, private baths and rooms for people to hang out alone in private. Private is a huge word in this country, but guess what? If it gets even close to what I believe is coming down the pike this privacy nonsense is all about to disappear. I envision us all living pretty much like the illegals down town. Ten to a room. Won't that be fun?

The hardest part of this whole thing will be getting along with each other. This is gonna take a whole lot of hard work and dedication. There is going to be a lot of stuff going on outside the family perimeter. People fighting for food, people fighting for shelter, people fighting out of fear and anger, people fighting and robbing and killing just because they found out they could get away with it, all kinds of good stuff. The one place you don't want to be fighting is in your compound. One that will probably be filled with family members.

Alone I know I could weather the storm easily. I would merely go back to Alaska and get lost in the bush close to Prince William Sound and if the bears left me alone I could live quite well. I would become a bonified wood rat. (I almost was one once) After the first year I wouldn't even want to come out.

But I have family. I have grandchildren. And I am dedicated, especially if the shit hits the fan big time, to the safety of them and everyone else in my immediate family to the loss of my own life if need be. Cause as an old man I have learned that I would rather dive head first into the hut amongst my family than to be safe underneath in my spot amongst the pigs.