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Last night, I stumbled unknowingly into Doomsday Prepper World.
You see, I found a friend-that-I-don’t-know-but-used-to-follow-on-Pinterest. She’s still pinning, but I just haven’t been on pinterest in a while. This friend-that-I-don’t-know has transformed from a gardening/backyard chicken person to a full-on doomsday prepper. Complete with this survival doll. (Please go read this link, if you’re sane and in the mood for a good chuckle.)
I am not and will never be a “doomsday prepper.” This world is not my home, I’m just passin’ through. I’m not at all concerned about how I die or when I die.
I disagree with Doomsday Prepping at the very heart of its philosophy. Preppers’ basic tenet is self-preservation. If your life philosophy stems from preservation of self, your life will revolve around self. Preppers could use their gifts and talents for so much good—generously giving to those who need it. Preppers’ philosophy is based on fear. I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
All that being said, I can admire some of the skills that preppers value and their fantastic work ethic. Here are seven things that I think that doomsday preppers get right.
- Natural cleaning methods.
- Holistic health.
- Gardening
- Primitive handicrafts
- “Putting by” or canning.
- Waste not.
- Alternative energy sources.
Preppers are fantastic at valuing resources, especially natural resources. Foraging, an interest of ours, is ho-hum knowledge to doomsday preppers instead of the novelty that it is to Michael and I. Want to know how to make a needle out of bone that can sew through leather? Ask a prepper. Want to know how basic hygiene and dish washing happens in the wild without external assistance? Ask a prepper.
Admittedly, last night, after stumbling onto this old friend-that’s-not-a-friend’s pinterest boards, I lay awake for far too long thinking about if a hypothetical disaster happened and this friend ran out of baking soda, how would she survive? Almost all of her potions and recipes involved vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda. What would happen? Would she make it at home? How do you make baking soda at home?
And a google search commenced.
So maybe I’m not that far from a doomsday prepper myself. I possess the curiosity to know how things are made, where we get our resources, and how to conserve resources.