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Every person has to make the decisions that they think and feel is right for them. Thus, I have to respect your decision to be more vocal about prepping. I wish you the best and I pray we never need to out our preparation into practice.

However, in my work I've been to places where things have gone to sh!t. I've been to the memorials. I've seen the skulls in Rwanda and walked in the places where multitudes of people went zombie and started attacking each other like some bad Romero movie. I was in Kenya during the post election violence. During my university days in the US several of my friends and one of my ex girlfriends were from the Balkans in Europe. In all those situations they wouldn't consider 'running to the hills' to be cowardice, especially when it is to save their family.

I have absolutely no romantic thoughts about how such an event would happen in a bigger scale. I also know that it is not just protecting myself but also about protecting my family. It is not cowardice striving to ensure my family can eat. It is not cowardice trying to make sure my family is not killed. Or raped. Or any number of other nasty stuff that would happen in a real shtf scenario.

Theoretically I actually agree with you. Theoretically. As in, I'd love to be in a close knit society where everyone has prepared and we can all communally ensure we, as a unit, are greater than the sum of our parts. This is why on other threads (some months back) I espoused the importance of trying to find a community - say in a rural area - now so that when the shtf one is in a group of people that can assist in getting food as well as protecting the group. Numbers count. This was in several posts I've made where I show why remaining in suburbia, even when you have the prerequisite 'hundreds of bricks of ammo' will most likely get you killed since suburbia will be a veritable killzone by week two. Thus, I agree with you that one should help their neighbors'. It is just that I also know that many will not take their prepping seriously (and will think it is crazy), and like a lifeboat trying to save too many people, trying to save the community may be at the cost of my family.

I will not accept that. I have no qualms about putting myself at risk, but I will not put my family at risk over people too dimwitted to take care of themselves. Even Noah didn't open the Ark once the rains started.

Anyways, I theoretically agree with what you have to say, sir. However, I've seen actual shtf scenarios, and been close to people who have experienced their own shtf scenarios. This covers Africa and the US. The closest I've been to in the US are some tornadoes in Oklahoma, and the chaos following those natural disasters is nothing close to what happens when it is a human/killing-spree disaster. I do not consider running away to the hills to be cowardice, but even if it was I would rather be a coward with children not molested by the rabble rather than a 'brave person' who went through the hell many people go through when the shtf.

For me prepping is about my family. By myself I don't need to prep - I am a young man who can (very easily) fend for myself. If I didn't have morals, and I was all by myself, I could simply join/start a group of marauders and feed off those weaker than us by raiding their homes. That will be quite common after week two. Thus, for me prepping is for my family. I will not expose them to risks based on trying to help those who refuse to be helped. Some may consider that cowardice, but I consider it wise.