"I'll just come over to your house"...

If you ever want to insult a prepper, say those 7 magic words.  Honestly, I'm touching the "third rail" of preppers and non preppers relationship, but i need to enlighten people on how this statement is taken, and i need to vent a little too.  And if your feelings get hurt, so be it.

I, along with many of my prepper friends have the same limited financial resources you have, and it is at great personal sacrifice that we allocate our time and money toward preparedness and self sufficiency.   Maybe its growing a garden and canning, or weapons training, spending time fixing up that old cabin, or just buying food and other supplies, but i assure you we would rather drive a new car, or take a cruise, or have the newest flat screen TV and sit in front all day watching all the Direct TV's premium channels.  We choose not to because we believe lives are in the balance.  To paraphrase the movie The Core, "I'm not trying to save the whole world, thats overwhelming.  I'm just trying to save 4 of them".  If you're not sure you are one of them, don't count on me.

That doesn't mean we can't work together, or i won't help you plan now.  But as my Mom use to say "you have to bring more to the table then an appetite".  If a prepper takes the time to talk to you about the idea of preparedness, then they care enough about you to try and save your life.  Infact, thats what they are doing.  Don't insult them by saying "i'll just come to your house".  Trust me, If they didn't care, they wouldn't have mentioned it at all.  But don't make the mistake of thinking they can actually take care of you in a crisis.

Lets take the crisis out of the equation for a second and reverse the situation.  You go to the grocery store and buy food and i decide on my own that i'm going to come and eat half of your food at every meal.  You get a Big Mac and I want half.  Oh, and I want some fries too...  Remember that last slice of pizza?  I ate it!   and you really didn't want that last Coke, did you? You may love me like family, but spending twice as much at the store or getting half the food will eventually strain your budget, your nerves, and our relationship. You would get insulted and angry.  Well that is exactly how we feel.

Now take your hurt feelings right down to the nearest store and buy a case of water, a case of beef stew, a flash light, and a can opener.   I just saved your life.