Moms are awesome – and I don’t mean that as a complimentary platitude, like “You’re totally awesome.” – I mean it quite literally; one can’t help but be held full of awe for them when thinking about all the hard work mothers do on a daily basis, often unnoticed.
MOMS ARE AWESOME! Now, factor into that being a prepper mom, or especially a military mom – well, these women are superheroes.
In celebration of Mother’s Day, we thought we’d take this opportunity to thank all mothers out there with just a few examples of their awesomeness.
We all can recall those little truisms and lessons which our moms always repeated over and over… and over… again.
Every family has their own funny little phrases that have become ingrained in our minds from childhood. The sayings may vary, but a lot of the lessons are universal and still top advice for us now as adults.
Our mothers took care of us as children, managed a household, acquired and stored supplies, provided us catering and taxi services – many times also maintaining a whole ‘nother career outside of the home – and STILL had the energy and fortitude to teach us a thing or two about right from wrong and how to live a provident life:
1) SAVE FOR A RAINY DAY
The basic, understated premise to prepping; having emergency stores of everything from money to food is part of our basic responsibility to care for ourselves.
This isn’t just for a SHTF scenario; extra savings can prevent one from being a burden to family members during periods of unemployment or illness.
2) QUIT TOUCHING YOUR FACE
Advice originally meant for nervous children and pimple-popping teens, this gem of an idea actually has numerous positive results reaching far and wide. Bacteria live all over the body, inside and out.
But the key is, they’re different bacteria, depending on where on the body they live in normal homeostasis.
It is when you move the bacteria from one place to another – from it’s normal home, such as the skin, to a different part of the body, such as the eyes, mouth, or nose – that gives you an infection or makes you sick.
In the event that medical treatment is not readily available, or if you are currently immune-compromised, it is even more critical that you avoid unnecessary risks of contamination.
THE “FIST-BUMP”: GENIUS POST-APOCALYPSE HANDSHAKE
Here’s another shocker: the normal bacteria that lives on one person can be infectious to another person.
So, even though the person sitting next to you may be in perfect health, you could shake hands or even just breathe on each other and it is possible to get bacteria that is bad for you.
Getting that “bad” bacteria into your system through a break in the skin, or any openings into your body (mouth, eyes, inhaled into the lungs, etc.), could cause sickness.
Considering that besides your hands, your face and facial hair are the dirtiest parts of your body, keep your hands AWAY from your face!
3) BRING A SWEATER
Just, bring a sweater. Oh, yeah, and the clean underwear and change your socks thing. All of that.
4) HAVE A PLAN
Another reason to thank all the prepared moms out there – it takes time, energy, and effort to map out emergency planning; not to mention the lack of appreciation when making the kids participate in fire drills at 5 in the morning!
5) BRUSH YOUR TEETH
You only get one set! Let’s face facts: in the event of emergency shutdown, pandemic, or any number of survival situations, finding a dentist will be as difficult as finding the ocean in Kansas.
Medicine will be scarce, and if an old, neglected cavity gets infected, without antibiotics the infection can go right to the brain.
Let’s face another fact: Dental work is EXPENSIVE! Even under normal circumstances, one can spend upwards of $3000 per tooth if something goes awry.
But that hefty bill can be avoided in the future for the present cost of floss, a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, and a regular check-up (my dentist even gives me the floss and toothbrush when I go in, so I only pay for toothpaste and mouthwash).
If you need work done, get it done as soon as possible. A $300 cavity filling now is much cheaper than an infection, antibiotics, and a $1500 root canal later.
Or worse, have the root canal and you lose the tooth, anyway. So, that’s $200 more to get your tooth pulled, and $2000 to get a replacement tooth. All because you avoided the $60 check-up in the first place.
Caught early, tooth decay can be treated cheaply and easily – but you can’t wait until the apocalypse and then try to “catch up” with your pearly whites!
WOULD YOU KISS THAT MOUTH?
Both allopathic medicine and natural medicine sciences agree that an unchecked mouth is a leading cause for systemic and severe conditions like heart disease, blood sepsis, and bone loss.
Genetics also play a part in having excellent choppers; but Strep (as in strep throat) bacterial activity, such as from Streptococcus mutans and other plaque-forming microorganisms, depend almost entirely on you keeping your teeth clean on a regular basis.
6) DON’T ADVISE SOMEONE UNTIL YOU’VE WALKED THREE MILES IN THEIR SHOES
(My mom said it was from a Native American saying “Don’t be the judge until you’ve walked miles in another man’s moccasins”, but I think it was probably just something she made up and didn’t know it would sound racially insensitive by today’s standards.)
The point is, we can only relate to the world through our own individual experience.
Take time to consider that a different person is going to make different choices and have different ways of communicating, all because they only know the world through their own experiences.
What is important to you may not be to someone else, and vice-versa. People may not react the way you think they should react.
People may be down on their luck because something awful out of their control just happened, so don’t immediately think they did something stupid.
HIDDEN MEANING?
This maxim of life can be looked at in two ways:
First, it indicates the moral lesson that we shouldn’t go around judging other people and making the mistake of thinking another person is of less value than we are because of that person’s circumstances.
We should treat them with respect and get to know that person and their backstory, instead. However, there is an equally-important meaning when you look at it inside-out.
In context of any massive government collapse, environmental meltdown, zombies, or any other latter-day emergencies, anarchy opens up many dangers.
You will be on your own to govern and protect your own group against warring militias, the desperate and mentally traumatized, or just common thieves and immoral people.
Any form of self-defense – either politically or in combat – requires some assessment of the opponent and prediction of what their next steps will be.
Always be at least one step ahead, and the only way to do that is to put yourself in their position and know their backstory well enough to make an accurate guesstimate of their possible reactions.
By knowing the way they will behave, you have a better chance of staying in control of the situation.
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