Why should WE care about THEM?

The dichotomy:
We and Them
Us and Them
“We’re Number ONE! – They suck!”
I win – you lose

Or the related:
I got MINE
Sucks to be YOU

Those thoughts (my thoughts) came to me after I recently received an email from a reader referencing the last blog entry. He said he’d answer my question, “why are these guys at the gun show so angry?” if I’d answer his which basically boiled down to, why should I (Joe) care if others are prepared or not? That kind of gets to the heart of this blog.
My reply follows:

Hey xxxxxx,
Thanks for taking the time to write.

My question about the angry dudes was mostly rhetorical. Yes, I get that the world looks less and less pleasant every day. I can see, hear, and feel that locomotive coming down the tunnel. But life is short. We really need to enjoy what we have while we have it. THESE are the good times....just wait...

It is certainly written in the Bible that we are "to witness" but the "Bible" doesn't tell us to do so - Jesus did.

Your base question "but do you have a reason other than that, which makes you want to save all those folks from themselves?" and the additional but related one "why do you care?" can also be answered in something Jesus said.

Some lawyer was trying to trick him - put him in legal corner and he asked Jesus - "What is the most important commandment in all of God's law?"

No matter WHAT Jesus answered, this lawyer was going to try and say something like, "A-HA! so you are saying that X is more important than Y?!"

Jesus said, "The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart and all your soul and your strength and all your mind AND to love your neighbor as yourself."

Elsewhere he defines "neighbor" as your fellow man - humans.

SO first off we are "commanded" to care. But that gets into legalism. If the only reason I care about others is BECAUSE God told me to care - then I don't get it.

See, God loves me and he loves you too. Whether you love him or not. Kinda like the perfect parent vis a vie their child. The closer I walk with God, the more I love my fellow man.

I DO care about others - primarily because God has changed my heart to be more loving and caring. I was not always so...

There is also an earthly practical (and therefore more selfish) reality to "trying to save all those people from themselves" - there is a lot of truth to the old saw, "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."

Would you rather be surrounded in a crisis by 2,000 unprepared people or 2,000 squared away people? A family man with an AK and some ammo but no food and no plan is going to part of the problem when his hungry little girl looks up at him with tears in her eyes and says, "Daddy, I'm hungry - when can we eat something?"

I am prepared to deal with "problems" but I would really rather not have to. Every prepared American strengthens our country. So I do my bit...

Every prepared American is one less who will look to suck off the government teat.

Every prepared American is one less who will actively work towards giving away our God-given rights to GOV.com in return for the lie/promise of more "security".

Every prepared American lessens the burden on relief efforts and lets those efforts go to where they are really needed.

Preparedness = Strength.
I CrossFit and there is a quote in CrossFit (from Olympic lifting coach Mark Rippetoe) that says, "Strong people are harder to kill and generally more useful".

I like strong people.
I like prepared people.
I try to surround myself with them.
I try to help others become strong and prepared.
Life is better that way.

I'll see ya out there.

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. – Luke 1:49 - 51

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If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America