Dealing with the "N" Word

Those of you who have followed our recent posts are fully aware that we (me and the rest of the rascally Refugees) want to impress upon others the importance of approaching crisis preparedness in a calm and measured way. Doing so, without overtly trying to alarm the townsfolk that the sky is falling, helps you maintain your sparkling credit rating among local merchants and keeps you near the top of the favorite aunt or uncle list and invited to all of the most prestigious extended-family gatherings and group feeds.

That said (many times over these past few weeks), let's politely broach the topic of certain scary scenarios that can too easily become all-consuming personal infernos that keep you up till dawn vacuum-sealing giant plastic buckets of rice and beans.

Today, we'll just start on the first such adrenaline source ...

The "N" Word

Nuclear. There, I said it.

Mankind has been "on the brink" of nuclear annihilation for 60 years now. Scientists who get together to discuss "big bangs" and such when they're between government research grants, have had us holding our collective breath at "minutes before midnight" on the Doomsday Clock for decades now.

Nightmares of death by instant mass vaporization or slow downwind radiation poisoning have been part of growing up for generations. Then, just when it was getting to be the stuff of "so what? It'll never happen," for many folks, the rules change. Now it's not just superpowers, superpower has-beens, and superpower wanna-bes that conceal-carry fission-bomb weapons of self-defense, but criminal gangs and terror feudalists are said to be wielding or bidding for "respect" as well.

Of course, there's also the "flipside" of the nuclear coin that can look an awful lot like the "heads" side if you look at it just a bit askance. The mostly beneficial nuclear power plants across the globe that are firing the growth of the global economy, do also have the potential to rain radioactive fear down upon dependent and trusting customers if somehow things go very wrong.

Classic Debate Helps Determine Your Approach

So should you consider the potential for nuclear radiation in your neighborhood someday as you build your framework for personal peace of mind?

Well, you probably have to decide where you stand in the ongoing debate out there about whether nuclear war is survivable (or might the matter really be about whether it OUGHT to be survivable?). There's a lot of emotion on both sides of that argument, and it would be worth looking into for yourself, if you haven't already.

For me, I concluded long ago that there would be many, many folks out there, in the event of any single nuclear detonation or series of detonations that would be very much in need of immediate attention and protection. Without a viable national civil defense program anymore, the U.S. people are very vulnerable in this area. Should we at least have a shot at surviving such an attack? I think so.

Moreover, the danger of nuclear radiation imposing itself upon your outlook is not limited to the fallout from a nuclear weapons burst. A nuclear powerplant accident upwind could possibly result in critical conditions most anywhere in the country today. And sadly, now we have to also acknowledge the potential for small dirty bombs to become a reality and bonafide risk factor.

It comes down to this: if you are undertaking preparedness to counter reasonable risks out there to you and your loved ones, and you covet the peace of mind that comes with reaching a certain level of readiness, then you're probably not going to want to ignore this big hole in your defenses for very long.

More on this next time.