Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Sell a Child to Feed a Child

No, this post has nothing to do with me or the Mrs, personally. Lets get that out of the way up front.

It really has to suck to be one of the parents in some turd-world nation that has backed themselves into a corner like this- a corner that is so dark and filled with desperation that your only apparent remaining option, short of violent crime is to sell one of your children in order to feed the others.

(I'm da King of run on sentences baby- WHOHOO!)

How could you live with yourself, every morning, waking up to a missing child, to cook a meal for your family that is the moral equivalent of forcing them into sibling cannibalism? You may never know (or even worse, find out for SURE!) what happened to your child- prostitution, crime, death, medical experiments. It has to be horrible.

Luckily, America is not in that position yet- but it is only luck. This nation's foolish behavior has taken us down a very frightening road-and I suspect that it is all DOWNHILL. I pray that I am wrong, but with human nature being what it is...I'll be glad when we get out West.

As it is now, the economy is falling apart at the seams, and unlike the mighty Battlestar Galactica, there is no funky Cylon goop we can slap on her skeleton to bring her back to life. The crisis is a fundamental ignorance of fundamentals. To modify an old punchline, "No Gold, Radio!"

Learn a skilled trade while you have a chance, or learn to grow food and livestock. I won't need to trade parts or repair services for CPA work or "mad l33t skilz" when the infrastructure snaps and Battlestar USA slides into a decaying orbit, destined to burn up.

Call it a hunch, but I doubt that any of the prominent survival authors, or televison or internet survival specialists are going to find extra room in THEIR lifepod for any latecomers. Don't put yourself in the position that so many parents in other countries have. Don't eat your kids.

If you don't prepare for toughER economic (and otherwise) bleak times, someone ELSE may eat your kids. And your dog. And your cat. AND YOU.

I have been told more than once that if I can't "eat it, shoot it, or (fill in the blank)" then it's not worth having. While this is not TOTALLY true, there is a wisdom to it.

I wonder what a binder of MAGIC:The Gathering or Pokemon Cards will be worth in 2015?
Value for collectors, or value as firestarters?
Do ya reckon anyone will trade seeds, tools, or even toothpaste for them?
Would they trade those things NOW in any slimy mudhole in rural China or India, where these frivolities were probably printed to begin with? I doubt it.

Our brilliant nation of over-consumers have elected Hope and Change.
If you cannot tell by watching short-circuiting Nancy Pelosi, the Cylons aren't COMING, folks-
the Cylons are HERE, and running the ship.

Super-fortunately for us here in the US, "The Plan" is not yet in full swing. time is short, but the methods people are resorting to are not LAST RESORTS. It may seem like it financially to some, but before the Age of the Platinum Unicorn may begin, and before the Easter Bunny can deliver your free health care, even well prepared 'Muricans may find it necessary to take what they consider Desperate Measures (from the 'Murican point of view.)

Anyone short on cash may be tempted to "sell a child to feed a child." I personally believe this is the wrong tactic for the current time.

Lets say a gunowner has to sell a nice piece of their collection to make rent, power, mortgage, or food- well then, that is selling a "child" to feed themselves.

If, HOWEVER, they are selling the piece of their collection in order to buy ammo to feed another piece in their collection...well...whoa. For shame. Sell it for hi-cap magazines instead.
(just kidding about the last few sentences, I just suck at transitioning.)

Point is, some very nice stuff that normally would remain unseen by the masses has and will come up for sale, due to financial necessity or even hardship.)

Case in point:
a close friends personal (but thank heavens, not only) Long Distance Zombie Zapper.
.50 BMG sub MOA. Ouch; I want, but cannot feed it myself. I can count the .50 BMG I have on hand on the fingers and toes of fewer than 10 targets.

Lookie:




More info available on AuctionArms.

Good luck with your collections, folks.
Like old Scoutmaster Vic used to say to me weekly: "Buy Cosmoline."

3 comments:

Political Common Sense said...

Dude, Excellent post. I too pray that we are not in the end times as a nation, however it does feel as though we are in a near perfect storm. I know my seeds and powder are dry, and hope to hell I don't need 'em!

Home on the Range said...

I don't think the current Senate would know what to do with Cylon Goop if they had a ship full of it.

Most of America seems to be like my dog. Waiting for a giant plane full of chewtoys to crash in my backyard.

The work I do would not likely feed me if there was a total meltdown. But I can fly about any sort of aircraft. I can fix the smaller ones. I can hunt and render and can and plant. I can provide base medical care and set bones and heal with herbs. Small things perhaps, but skills that will do me more good than being able to find the right shoes for my dress or sell someone something they don't need.

Sean Galt said...

And that, Ms. Brigid, is one of several reasons why you are one of my (very few!) heroes.