It is a very common tale – one that has been tailored to each generation spanning all the way back to fables of old.  It is the tale of husband and wife, doing everything within their means to protect their children (especially first born) from the evils of the world.  

– Year 563 BC: The story of Buddah speaks about how a child named Siddhartha was hidden behind the palace walls by his family.  They feared that he would see the suffering and pain of the poor and desperate.  It was only until he stepped outside of the walls did he become enlightened and transform into “Buddah” (the enlightened one).

– Current fairy tales: Scattered throughout multiple Disney fairy tales (The Little Mermaid, Frozen, etc.) we see the same character locked within the confines of their parent’s protection.  It is only until they escape from that prison do they ever fulfill their true character.

I have a daughter named Estella Claire.   At a tender age of 19 months, she knows of warm beds, hot baths, funny cartoons, tasty food, and lots of hugs and kisses.  Just like every other parent from the beginning of time, I wish to keep her under my protective wing.  I have all the traditional parental worries: I want her to be safe, I’ll be terrified when she starts driving, and I’ll be at my wits end when she starts dating.  However, as a prepper, I carry the burden of knowing evils that are much more insidious…

I am aware that in the coming times, life will be something dramatically different than what most people alive today have ever experienced.  It is unfortunate that the stories of those who lived through the great depression & holocaust  are slowly being silenced as they are carried on to another world…for they are the ones would have the closest understanding of times to come.

But I do not need to draw on hypotheticals for the coming times as we are already living them.  And it will only get worse from here.  I see evils against children  in America that are so disturbing that it repulses my mind…

– An American Horror Story – A poor toddler suffered unbelievable pain and abuse at the hands of his care takers.  He eventually died.  I could not even read or watch the entire story due to how evil it is.

– Nearly 20% of children in America live in poverty and are “food-insecure”.

– The rate of child abuse and fatalities from abuse are rising:

– And while some would argue that it’s better to abort a child rather than have them live a life of suffering, there is not a single person that should agree that the increasing rate of abortions is hideous.  The US is the leader of all western civilized countries in terms of number of abortions (4 in 10).

What is a Father to do?

We should all recognize that this ship (America) is like the Titanic and is not changing course.  When I write articles on the coming times, it feels very much like what Brandon Smith @ Alt-Market.com says:

“It is difficult to find the motivation to write about the state of the global economy these days, if only because there is not much left to say. I feel like I am composing multiple obituaries for the same long dead corpse.”

We should also recognize that the world is increasingly becoming evil.  As parents, we would like to think that society as a whole is less likely to hurt children than adults because of their innocence.  The “American Horror Story” (above) and others like it prove that this is hardly the case.  There are people out there that are more than willing to hurt their own children let alone ours.

I’ll be damned if I ever get to a point where my family is starving, hurt, cold and without hope and knowing I could have done more.  It is one of my worst fears as a father to think of a situation where my child, in all her innocence, does not understand why daddy cannot feed her or why another person tried to hurt her.  If this isn’t a good enough reason to prepare, I don’t know what is.

I’ll be especially damned if I concede (stop prepping) to the people who call me crazy and say “stop living a prepper’s fantasy”.

But as with the tale of Buddah, you cannot protect a child forever.  At some point in their life, they must come to know the reality that this world presents.  Until then, they cannot fully develop and are not free.  This is not to say that we cannot prepare them for that time.  I see prepper fathers all over the country teaching their children good morals, proper firearm training, hunting, cooking, etc.  It is these life skills that will prepare our children for a new paradigm.

And if it is any consolation, let me offer you this perspective:

We are surrounded by a world of entertainment, greed, gluttony, and other vices.  They all work to distract us from family as evident by the technology-oppressed millennial generation.  Although there will be a massive “reset” which will bring on hard times, the family bond will be strengthened.  We will depend on each other so much more than in any time of our past.  This is where true love will shine.

Do you have children?  What would you do for them?