by Tom Blair
Columnist

It seems like I watch hell every night on the TV news. You know what I mean, these Mid East countries with war torn cities, dead people everywhere, buildings blown apart and everyone ducking in and around corners and children hiding in dark, dirty rooms.

I can’t help but wonder if that is what the United States will be like down the road. You know things are in position to make it a possibility, but I am not talking about this to make you worry but rather prepared for it. You know what they say? Prepare for the worse and hope for the best.

I’d like to use a little imagination for a few minutes, because it just might prolong or save your life or your entire family. This is NOT as preposterous as you might first think.

A terrorist blows off a nuclear device in New York, L. A. or Kansas City or (God forbid) all three. There is an immediate run on grocery stores and gas stations, so how long can you or your family exists on what food you have on the shelves? Water, powdered milk, dried foods, canned goods etc., survival food! Is your gas tank always full and ready to go somewhere?

Think of the power failure the folks had down south this summer. They lost everything they had in their refrigerators and freezers. What if something like this happened around January the 1st in this freezing country?

Now, if you do have enough food to feed your family for a month, what about many of your neighbors that have very little? An honest, upstanding family who is starving may do things that they would never normally do, to survive. And that’s what I am talking about, surviving.

If you think you are going to go in the woods and hunt deer, fish and so on, think again! Take all of the people in Fargo/Moorhead area and turn-em loose in the countryside to see how many can make it. See how long the game lasts out there, especially in the winter.

There are going to be those who will get food and shelter by stealing from others, which would most certainly mean violence. How hard would you fight to keep your loved ones fed and sheltered? Do you have firearms? Could you use one to defend your property? You would have to make up your mind ahead of time that you would kill to survive. Do you have enough ammo to last? Have you thought about what you would do during times like I have mentioned? Do you have a list of things you would take with you in the event you would have to leave your home in such an emergency? One day you just might reconsider or re-evaluate that “stand- your-ground” law.

Some people practice for a fire with fire drills. Have you ever discussed something like this with family members? Probably not, you don’t want to scare them. (Not that 911 scared the hell out of anyone huh)?

Just a financial meltdown could cause chaos in our country. But because we think we are omnipotent, we think that we are the good guys and nothing like this could ever happen. Remember: There are millions of extreme nuts out there who are planning and hoping that they can turn us into just what I had touched upon.

Just consider about how fragile we really are, how sloppy our borders are, how close we are to being bankrupt, how many criminals, terrorists and predators there are out there waiting. The Boy Scouts have a good motto to follow- BE PREPARED!

Tom “Road” Blair

Website: www.tomroadblair.com