They
say you can find a video to show you how to do anything on YouTube.
And, for the most part, it’s been my experience that is true.
Maybe not YouTube on its own. But you can do a search for just
about anything and find a video that will help you.
Want
to change a taillight on a car? A very specific make and model
and year of a car? We can find that.
Need
to change the oil or blades on your ride on mower? No problem.
You
can clear levels of video games, build a deck, and repair your
snowblower. You can make wine in your shed, cornbread on your
propane grill, and cookies using the bottoms of muffin tins. We
can tear a bathroom down to the studs and rebuild it completely.
We can fix the water damage on your grandfather’s furniture. And,
I’m fairly certain we could make pickles with two needles, a thimble
and bottles located only on the bottom shelf of the left-side
door of your refrigerator.
It’s
a marvelous time to be alive.
Unless
all of it goes away.
I
know. Crazy talk. Progress and advancements and moving forward
isn’t heading in reverse.
Still.
What if it did?
We
have transitioned to a world that runs off the ability to recharge
our devices. Phones and tablets and more. If cellphone or wireless
service goes down, the same items become solitaire-like games
at best (paperweights at worst), even if fully charged.
This
isn’t a rant about where we’ve arrived with our gadgets or the
disappearing phone booths. It’s about safety nets. About preparing
for the reaction in the action-reaction progression.
I’ve
written before about friend of mine with children in the house.
Hurricane hits, power goes out, and they’re sending messages while
in the car because the charger in the vehicle was the only way
to address the exhausted batteries in the tablets. Blizzard sweeps
in, knocks out power that takes away the WiFi, cell signal disrupted,
and the phone is useless.
In
some ways, I’m exaggerating for humor. But the reality is, I have
seen storms take away cellphones. I have witnessed parents struggling
to entertain kids. These are not impossible scenarios to see developing
at some point, and yet everyone seems to be looking at it with
a shoulder shrug. A shoulder shrug offered while an old phone,
with a cord connecting pieces and plugged into the wall, comes
immediately to life when you pick the handset up.
When
I was growing up, there was a certain awareness of emergency needs.
Candles for power. The grill ready for cooking. Water for drinking.
Batteries for the radio. Fill the gas tank on the car. So, how
have we arrived at a point where items like the batteries are
not only ready, the checklist seems to be gone as well?
When
the apocalypse arrives, I’m not sure I’m going to be properly
prepared. I know I’ll have candles to light and plenty of books
to read. There will be snacks. But I am sure that I’ll be in trouble
when it comes to long-term survival, since I won’t be able to
pull up YouTube for instructions on how to set up a root cellar.