Say what???

  The other day, I was given a new name.  Well, a new to me name was shoved at me.  While here, a friend kept referring to me as a "Prepper". With a certain air of importance, she proclaimed that her husband was one and that he was saving all sorts of things.  "He is a prepper!"  She proudly threw the word around like it was some claim to fame.  Within a half hour, the word popped up at least two dozen times.  That was fine.  When she started using the word in reference to me, I decided it was time to ask just what a prepper was.  It did not sound like something I wanted to be.  She proceeded to inform me that "a prepper does things!"  Ok...I guess.  I asked what type of things and was told "He saves things, he wants to plant a garden, he wants to learn to be self sufficient, he wants to make things."  Hmmm...other than saving things, it sounded like a lot of pipe dreams to me.  And he is saving toilet tissue tubes....huh?  

  Later, I looked up exactly what a prepper does.  Come to find out, a prepper "prepares".  Well, duh, I figured that much but then the kicker.  A prepper prepares for a catastrophic disaster....I don't think that "wannabe" thing is going to help much in a situation like that.  Either start learning and doing ahead of time or just let it be.  Saving things can just get you a new name such as "hoarder".  Plus, those toilet tissue tubes are not going to save you, my friend.  

  I never thought of myself as a "prepper" (and I hate the sound of that word.  I do not want to be labeled as that!)  Sure, I plant a garden, home can our food and repair items instead of buying new.  I reuse things, make do with what I have on hand and have been known to catch seafood for meals.  I guess I do stockpile food with the home canning and will lay in a supply of water during hurricane season but as for going to the extreme...nah, that is for the folks who look at the dismal side of things.   I garden because I like fresh food.  I catch seafood because it is free and it is the only "meat" that I can eat.  I reuse, recycle, repurpose things because I hate to shop.  I home can because I like to eat "out of season" fruits and veggies.  None of this is preparing for Doomsday (which is about as stupid as you come anyway)!  It is called commonsense.

  Instead of "wanting" to do all of these fine things, I think it would have paid off for folks to merely have listened back in the day when parents and grandparents tried to pass on their talents.  In years past, all of the things that "preppers" are saying are the "new" thing to do were merely everyday tasks.  When did all the common knowledge disappear?  Now a lot of folks run around like chickens with their heads lopped off when a problem arises.  There is no commonsense.  Has it gotten so bad that folks have to actively "try" to be prepared?  That folks have to "learn" to survive?  If so, I bet a lot of fine elders are sitting up in Heaven just shaking their heads at what is going on down here on Earth.  How appalling it must be to them that no one cared enough to learn simple things about how to live.  Geez, folks.  You just go on with your wannabe survival tips but, whatever you do, DO NOT label me with some stupid word like "prepper".  That just sounds like a pregnant pepper to me and I want no part of it.  On the other hand, the tomatoes and celery are doing quite well!