When it comes to preparedness, it is my belief that a great deal of people plan for one specific scenario than disasters in general.  It is understandable for someone on the South Carolina shore to be prepared for hurricanes or someone in California to be ready for earthquakes, but does the average person have a plan for tornadoes?  How about floods or blizzards?  Can insurance be considered being prepared?  Is drinking water available if the public water systems are contaminated?  Does the flashlight have fresh batteries?  That stuff happens and lessons can be learned.

The other spectrum of preparedness some people prepare for is situations that are much less predictable, like biological terrorism, government collapse, asteroid strikes, plagues and famine, and whatever form the apocalypse may be.  A shelter full of food and water is worthless if it's inaccessable by radiation or an airborne pathogen.  What's your backup plan?Other than general stuff, I don't think you can plan for everything.  

Doublefeed:

I have prepared myself and educated my family about all possibilities.  We live life in condition "yellow" and review plans on a regular basis.  Home invasion, fire, and hurricane plans are in place and actually rehearsed periodically.  Some may think this is a bit extreme, but we take "being prepared" a step beyond the average boy scout.

Regarding the public, I have had too many people actually try to hurt or kill me to think that there aren't predators out there.  Six plus years in 24 hour retail management taught me about the real world and the people who roam about in it.  My wife is prepared to defend herself on a moments notice and we constantly stress to our children that awareness is a key factor in survival/avoidance of problems.

Here is my take:  If I fail to protect my family or give them the tools/skills necessary for them to protect themselves, then I have failed in life.  Absolutely.  

How could anyone NOT take self-preservation seriously?  Sheesh.  Perhaps one of the side-effects of living a charmed life is that you don't think anything will ever happen to you.  You know, the old ignorance is bliss thing.  The stunned looks on "victims" faces on the tv is enough to convince me that I don't ever wish to be in that role.  

I once had a new co-worker ask me if I was one of those "paranoid" people.  I told him I was more prepared than most, but don't sit alone in dark rooms fondling firearms and staring at bags of beans hoping for the breakdown of society.  It disgusts me how quickly people ran back into the womb of comfort dished out by our consumer driven society after 9/11.

HELLO!?!?!  The real world can be very nasty folks!  You will need plenty of bactine for your owies if you wish to live to tell the tale.  Maybe a TRUTH-like ad campaign is in order.

-White Horse  <-- quietly goes to his "Happy Place"

p.s.  Golly, Double, you musta struck a nerve with me.

Yup...first we get the riots in LA where anarchy reigns rampant then we get the fires, floods and shake and bake.

When we lived on the fault line we kept a large trunk filled with emergency stuff, just like our friendly TV fireman told us.  After the '94 quake that took down my alma mater's new library and parking garage, killed a bunch of people and screwed up the interstates for weeks...I swore I was leaving no matter what! Did too...

It was REALLY weird to watch my house and those of my neighbors' sway back and forth and the street heave up and down like sea waves, during the first and largest aftershock at about 5pm the next day after the big one in January '94.
Funny...haven't felt the earth move in over six years now.

(PS:  Think it was the Rodney King verdict.) [:D]