The Holistic Survival Show
Back in the 4th century, Rome had a problem. Though home to almost a million souls, few of these inhabitants knew how to survive on their own during uncertain times. To put it bluntly, they were city slickers. Their families had lived in the same urban setting for generations. No one remembered the agrarian lifestyle. No one knew how to live off the land. Skills and trades of their ancestors were long forgotten.
More critically, no one knew how to survive when society came apart. They had been living on the “grid” so long they had no idea how to live without it.
Don’t forget – Rome definitely had a society. To stand outside the crumbling pieces of their once mighty edifices today, it is sometimes hard to remember this was the apex of Western Europe at one time. They had running water, a sewage system, baths, temples, clubs, restaurants, pubs, and shops. Many homes had a form of air conditioning, daily fresh milk delivery, and indoor plumbing. These were no backwoods country bumpkins. They were erudite writers, artists, politicians, and businessmen. An advanced highway system kept the city well-stocked and allowed the Roman population to drop into their local shops to buy spices and fabrics from Asia or clothing and tools from the Middle East.
The massive consumption assured a vibrant economy, with most people able to achieve middle class status through the service industry. Life was good. Rome had not lost a war in 800 years but there was an Achille’s heel waiting to make its presence known. The problem was that centuries of urban living had deprived Romans of even the basic knowledge of where their food and water came from. They were separated from the means of production.
Here’s the important point. If, perchance, their supply of goods were ever cut off, they would have no clue how to be self sufficient. As history tells us, their supplies WERE cut off by a series of sieges by Visigoths, who had fled Eastern Europe to escape persecution, only to land smack dab under Roman domination. Welcome to high taxes, government intervention, corruption, forced conscription. It didn’t take the Visigoths long to get tired of that and bring down the city, ushering in the Dark Ages.
Could Rome have avoided this nasty fate? Probably not. Human nature tends to walk a straight line towards greed, corruption, and laziness. The rest of the world grew to despise Rome. Is any of this sounding familiar? To residents of the United States, it should.
Like Rome, the average citizen has become completely separated from the knowledge required to produce the basics of life like food, water, shelter. You don’t need to exist on the militant survivalist fringe to realize that the less reliant you are on others for the basic necessities of life, the better chance you have to survive and prosper during emergencies, civil unrest, or outright economic chaos. This is what is called modern survivalism or Holistic Survival (http://www.HolisticSurvival.com). It’s about commonsense, practical ways to reduce your reliance on the grid.
We’ve mentioned the “grid” a few times. The term is slang for the myriad of ways modern citizens are connected to the larger bureaucratic, political, and commerce system. An easy way to think about it, and perhaps the reason it came to be used in the first place, was in relation to the power grid. We’re talking about electricity like you get from your local utility company. If you were to look at the actual power lines from the air, you’d see the country crisscrossed with a grid formation. The term “grid” has grown to encompass our entire modern society. It’s called “living on the grid” when you rely on someone else for anything you don’t produce yourself.
The grid is not all bad. The conveniences it brings into life can be very nice. It’s great to be able to drive up to Baskin Robbins at 11:30 p.m. for a double scoop of chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone. Saves you from having to break out the salt, churn, and mix it up yourself. You don’t have to turn your back on the grid all at once but you should begin to take concrete steps so that you and your family can survive if/when the grid breaks down.
A simple way to start your quest as a modern survivalist is to buy a generator and keep a stock of gasoline to run it. You’re not off the “grid” yet but you are ready to generate your own electricity if something happens to the power lines running into your house from outside, you’re covered. A sudden loss of power through inclement weather or system breakdown can easily lead to panic and disorientation. Not your problem. You’re ready when the grid goes kaput.
Now think of other things you can do for self-sufficiency. Here’s a good place to start. What are you going to do if the trucks don’t run and the grocery store shelves are bare? A three month supply of food in storage would go a long ways toward making it through. Learn from history. Don’t be like the Romans.
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