I was trying to think of what I would write about this week. There are so many heavy things going on right now that I thought I would write on something a little lighter. I’m going to write on some of the lessons I have learned from pop culture about life after TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It). My definition for this type of event is one that is far reaching and long lasting. An EMP or pandemic could fit this category. Economic collapse could fit in as well. All life doesn’t end, but the way we live does.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Seeing as these shows are fictional, and often written by very creative people, who might take creative liberty to “pretty” the story up, we can learn from what the characters did right, what they did wrong and what is laughably impossible. As always, using these shows as an exercise to think of what we would do differently can help us hone our survival thinking.
Security is Number One (or should be)
Many times security is an afterthought. Many people have the gun on their hip as the only means of security. No thought is given to hardening their structure, posting a watch or early warning systems until after an event. The Discovery Channel has a series of “survival” type shows, one being “The Colony”. It has a group of strangers that band together to survive a pandemic or other disaster. They are given an “abandoned” area in which to find shelter and scavenge what supplies they can. There have been two seasons and each season, they put shelter, food and water as a top priority. They don’t work on security much until someone breaks in and steals from them or harms them.
Shelter I agree with, but it seems to me that once shelter is found, split the group in two. One group should find a water source and means to purify it, looking for food afterward. The second group should work on security; hardening the shelter, and finding a means of defense, even if it is clubs (they never have guns on the colony).
A Lone Wolf is a Dead Wolf
There are many “survival” themed shows and movies where one lone wolf takes on the “zombie hoard” of bad guys and succeeds. Unless your name is Chuck Norris, this is not you. In any situation, Mad Max, The Book of Eli or even Red Dawn, one person cannot do it all. Having a small family at a minimum or a small group of likeminded people will be a great help.
In terms of security, not only is being a lone wolf a bad idea, but in a true survival situation there will be a lot of work. Shouldering the burden alone might be too much to bear. The saying “many hands makes light work” applies here. The only show where one person did everything on their own was Tom Hanks in The Castaway and he had no choice.
God made us to be communal beings. I am one of the most introverted, self-dependent people I know, but I am aware of my limits. I know if something happened I would need to depend on others for certain things, and others would depend on me as well.
You Must Feed Yourself
In many of these shows, there is a group and they struggle to meet the The Five Basic Human Needs. If you have ever watched the Discovery Channel show Survivor Man, you know how little food Les Stroud is able to get in a week in most shows. The only thing I’ll say about Bear Grylls is that many of the things he consumes on his show are a very bad idea.
In the fictional shows, you’ll sometimes see a garden, but often people are hungry and scavenge to eat. Most of the time the fiction shows never touch the subject, but I always wonder how everyone is staying fed. This just drives the point further that storing food and having skills like hunting, gardening and the like are important.
Bad Guys Are Plentiful
There are always plenty of Joe Dirtbags in any survival themed show. In reality, I think there is a certain percentage of the population that commits crime right now and doesn’t care about the consequences. I also think there is a segment of the populace that doesn’t commit crime because they are afraid of getting caught. Without the rule of law, I think the second group might just give in and do dirt.
Do you have any lessons you have learned from survival themed shows or movies?
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