Survival Education

(Notes: Compilation of several messages, articles and remarks I’ve made over the past couple of years in regards to Survival Education)

As a former teacher I would say that our greatest strengths as “survivalists” would be Education. If you can’t read well, it is difficult to learn – as I’ve shown some of the children and grand children. Occasionally you get a tough kid who says “I don’t NEED to read” or “I don’t care about history because it has nothing do with being a _______” – and you can fill in the blank with whatever idea they have in mind.

For those of use who managed to get through high school and on to college though we have come to realize that education isn’t something that ends when you get a diploma, degree or just finish some course work.

Education is an on-going process that we each must take seriously and continue to learn, even after we’ve become experts in our respective careers or jobs and where this comes to have the greatest impact on ourselves and those around us is not at our jobs.

It is when you are pressed into service to do something above and beyond the normal call of duty. In this case I’m talking about what happens when the proverbial balloon goes up, the shit hits the fan, “The End of the World as we know it” situations – or simple emergency situations that might occur at any point of any day of the week.

For my last 20 years I’ve tried very hard to pass on what little I know about anything and everything. Some of you are aware of what I’ve done, and what I’ve tried to contribute back to this community. Some are not or don’t care.

At this point in my life my focus on education has been my future as a pilot of a ship, navigation, weather, astronomy, ocean and wind currents (Earth Sciences) and other things related to getting myself and my wife, our boat from point A to Point B. The more I have learned the more I realize I will never know everything and experience it seems is usually the best teacher.

The world is in turmoil in a fashion greater than anything I can recall from the past – and with the possible exception of the Cuba Missile Crisis I can’t remember when so much nonsense around the world is beginning to affect America directly.

We have an infrastructure in place in America that would be difficult to topple, and yet, so did the Soviet Union in its time and it certainly fell. The forces of Capitalism and Democracy managed to cause the Soviet Union to crash and burn. And now they are fighting hard to return to the power they had in the last century. They won’t stop until America is in ashes.

Therefore it behooves each of you to learn as much as you can, and understand not only local politics but those of America, and even systems which are foreign. Sun Tzu, to paraphrase him said to know the enemy is to be able to defeat him.

But more important to each of us is the ability to survive and even thrive in the face of adversity. Without survival any knowledge you have can not be imparted to the next generation and the next generation becomes dependent upon the current “social interaction” and of course we can all see what that means by looking at those around us who’ve been brainwashed by the media and Leftist thinking.

I would urge all of you to take seriously the collection of data, information and education yourselves so you can educate others. You may not be able to change all the minds of all the younger generation, but if you can change one or two, and they in turn can eventually change another one or two, at least we can keep alive the dreams of what America is supposed to be – not what the left wants to remake America into.

Back to education for a final look. I’m not suggesting you study political science but perhaps to at least get a grasp of what the other side says. I’m not suggesting you need to be able to predict the weather, or to be able to plot a course across the ocean, or even understand how a radio works…. but when it comes to “survival” every, single skill, no matter how innocuous or silly it might seem is a piece of knowledge you carry around in your head – something you can use at some point.

Remember all those times we thought, “Algebra? I’ll never use that crap in real life!”

Well, I for one was wrong, not only have I used (and use it nearly daily) algebra, I use trigonometry and geometry a lot more than I ever used to.

I suppose this is a final plea from me to each of you to inspect your own personal lives, consider the path this country is taking and understand that if you do not have knowledge of certain things that soon enough that knowledge might be denied to you by the powers that be.

The internet has a lot of resources – and we all know this. I think it is time to use them. Spend an hour a day learning something new, something to help you survive in emergencies and you won’t go wrong.

—-

I started these short articles some time back with the idea I’d post some “education ideas” for everyone.

I’ve been carried away with several life issues. In the last eighteen months I’ve lost my little sister, my Father, and a half a dozen friends. (2011-2012)

A few days ago I had my own personal scare.  A routine (and I emphasize the word ROUTINE) EKG was performed and my doctor advised me it appeared I’d had a heart attack. I don’t REMEMBER having one, but I took it seriously. I underwent blood tests (results were not back yet at time of this writing – I did NOT have a heart attack) and then on Tuesday I went through a stress test.

The odd thing about the testing was the doctor performing the test thought I was “there for a reason” – that is, something had occurred and they were simply ensuring what the damage was. A bit of miscommunication I’m sure on the doctor’s parts.

When the test was over the doc examining me, and looking over my ultrasound and new ekg could find “nothing wrong” except for something was bothering him. He made a kind of off-the-cuff diagnosis stating I have “aortic stenosis”, which is more accurately called “Aortic Valve Stenosis” – a narrowing of the valve on the left ventricle of the heart emptying into the aorta.

Call me cautious, call me paranoid, call me untrusting… whatever you want to call me, but I don’t believe the doctor at this point. My pointed questions to him brought some confusion on his part as to his “diagnosis” because he couldn’t answer all my questions.

In fact, I asked him about it not really knowing exactly what causes this condition – at the time, now I know as much as a layman might know about it given the last few days of study – and his answers were less than satisfactory.

His “advice” was that I am GOING to require open heart surgery and a valve replacement “soon”. He couldn’t give me any time frame, but I believe he was trying to tell me that my world cruise was going to have to be cut short.

A new test, a C-T scan has been set up for next week Thursday on the aorta, bicuspid and tricuspid valves to look for aneurism and ascertain the quantity of calcification on the valve (if any). The fact is I have had a kind of “heart murmur” since I was a child and one of the indications of this condition is when you have one from being a child….

Anyway – calcification can be reversed with the proper intact of diet and vitamins. I didn’t know it when I asked the question, “Can I reverse this, through diet, exercise or medications”. His answer was an emphatic “NO!”

Again, not one to trust the medical establishment outright, I started researching and found that yes indeed there IS evidence such a condition can be reversed.

(Not going into the details at this time, but it’s a combination of certain vitamins to ensure that calcium is properly absorbed into the body, more than one vitamin, along with exercise, proper diet etc).

Now,  why I am telling you all this?

I had a pretty good scare a few months ago. It raised my blood pressure, I have had anxiety attacks over this and actually discovered myself becoming depressed thinking how I wouldn’t be able to put my five years of planning and preparation into effect. I was thinking “What will my wife do?” and all sorts of other stupid things. Of course, she will get along fine I’m sure without me and she might even miss me some!

But why worry when you can’t control the outcome? Well… perhaps I CAN control the outcome – and that my friends is EXACTLY what “Survival” is all about. A state of MIND!

I don’t think anyone should “give up” and go with what ANYONE tells them. Do things for yourself. You might HAVE some disease that will kill you, but you know what? LIVE your LIFE as best as you can.

All of this is part of the survival mentality for me… including refocusing depression into something more helpful like studying up on this condition. As it turns out, I am sure my problem is related to calcium intake.

How can I be so sure? Heart burn. I get it a lot. I take tums or some other version of calcium carbonate.

If you take too much you can literally poison yourself.

Duh….

Other symptoms of over dosing on (or more accurately too much intake of) calcium (hypercalcemia) include the following:

Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, dry mouth, thirst, constipation and frequent urination. Muscle weakness, pain and twitching or joint pain may also occur. The level of calcium in your blood does not necessarily relate to the level of symptoms. Symptoms will differ from person to person.

Funny thing is I didn’t know this stuff… and I was taking way too much calcium carbonate into my system, AND I have in the last months had most of those symptoms. In particular “joint pain”… hips, shoulders, elbows, etc. Major pain.

I had stopped taking any of this stuff about three weeks ago because I was “aware” of the joint pain and possible connection.

Over the course of the past week I’ve learned more about heart disease than I want to know, but I am SURE now that whatever slight condition I have would be exacerbated if I continued to take in too much calcium – AND if I listend to a doctor tell me there is no cure, no reversal, stop exercising and don’t worry about my diet. Pretty much what he told me to do is “prepare to have open heart surgery!”

I think not.

I’m going to go through the C-T scan on Thursday, a precaution and a confirmation one way or another, but to satisfy myself about my “condition”. (Went, done and no issues were found).

Either way – I’m completing the plans to go sailing, to cruise… and if perchance to DIE, then I will do in my own time without some doctor forcing me into a screwed up medical system, pig’s valves or mechanical valves (both of which have their very DOWN sides including the types of meds you have to take and remain tied to the medical system).

And by the same token I’m sharing this story with you all so you can stop and consider something important.

Our lives are fleeting on this planet. We’ve all probably lost someone close to us, knowing they were likely not ‘finished’ with their ‘life’s work’ or didn’t accomplish those things they wanted most.

All of us are in the same boat and we all have things to do, plan and accomplish and letting death get in the way of life is not something any of us ought to do.

All survivalists are on the same page; remaining ALIVE when all others around you have likely lost hope, or put their hope into something (the government for instance) and not IN THEMSELVES and their own brains, or they are already dead.

We all want to keep going, keep living, and sometimes against extreme odds people survive things that would kill a lesser person (and at times a stronger person!)  – a person who does NOT have that will to go on, to survive and to make it out alive.

We all know we won’t make it out of life, alive… but we can extend our lives by planning, training, education and understanding, avoiding being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are just times when it’s “our time” and nothing on Earth will save us but we must MEET that fate with courage, honor and the conviction that we TRIED our best.

With that my friends, I give one final piece of advice.

Educate yourselves. Take a couple of hours per week to LEARN some new skill. Starting a fire without normal fire starting materials for instance. Learn to clean and purify water without the use of fire. Learn how to tie various knots (to help put up shelter for instance), learn to row a boat, fish, swim, exercise, identify plants. ANYTHING you teach yourselves, no matter how small and insignificant is something that might just extend your life by another day.

Thus I provide the meager messages and pages I’ve provided on this web page.  If they do nothing other than make you think a little differently about how to do things, where to go for help, learning new skills then I’ve done nothing other than my intention; to help others.  Enjoy these pages, and enjoy the days you have ahead of you.

Good luck my friends.

 

EDIT:  In May 2015 I DID have a heart attack.  I DID undergo open heart surgery for a replacement valve.  Today, I’m fine and living aboard our ship on the East Coast.  We set sail for the Bahamas tomorrow (19 December 2015) and we’re both doing fine after dealing with heart issues, and cancer.  You can win. But, none of us gets out alive. :)