According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, we just got closer to midnight on the Doomsday Clock. In fact very close – It’s now just two minutes to midnight – the closest the Clock has ever been to Doomsday, and as close as it was in 1953, at the height of the Cold War. This may be a wakeup call for many of us who may have slipped into the comfort of complacency. Therefore, it behooves all of us to look a little closer at why these world experts feel we are ever closer to a major meltdown of some type that would affect all our lives in a very real way. Hopefully, this will provide the catalyst for us to take an even closer look at how well we are prepared to provide for our loved ones in such a scenario.
As stated on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website, this organization was “first established by Albert Einstein, with Robert Oppenheimer as the first chair, the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors are recruited by their peers from among the world’s most accomplished science and security leaders to reinforce the importance of the Bulletin’s activities and publications. Members of the Board of Sponsors are consulted on key issues, including the setting of the Bulletin’s Doomsday Clock.”
Although the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists focuses on nuclear risk, climate change, and emerging technologies, the threat of nuclear acceleration took center stage in this year’s Clock statement. The greatest risks recently arose in the threat of nuclear war. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program made remarkable progress in 2017, increasing risks to other countries in the region, and the United States.
So what does all this really mean? How are we to interpret “two minutes before midnight”? With the assumption that “doomsday” is an all-encompassing, devastating event where it all hits the fan, I don’t know about you but I’d really like to know when it going to happen. I don’t necessarily need to know all the details of how and where, but “when” would be at the top of my list of knowledge I’d love to have.
So does two minutes translate to two months? Two years? Twenty years? Without more specifics, it’s easy to ignore such warnings simply because we don’t know what it means. It sound close and ominous, but things have appeared close and ominous in the past with nothing “doomsdayish” ever transpiring. Many have the attitude that things may get tough someday, but as for today, it’s not an issue. When they open their refrigerator, there’s food there. When they go to the grocery store, there’s food there as well. So what’s the urgency?
The urgency lies in the fact that once the need arises, it’s too late to prepare. Better 10 years early than 1 day too late. I wish I had a crystal ball that told me when things would hit the fan, but since I don’t, I’m not willing to risk the wellbeing and safety of my family by putting my preparedness needs off till a later date using the excuse, “I know nothing’s going to happen this week, or this month, or this year. And as soon as I get the car fixed and finish the basement and get some of my medical bills paid off, then I’ll get serious about preparing for the future.” Unfortunately, those with such an attitude will most likely not be prepared for a major event; they also will be unprepared for smaller, personal doomsday events in their own lives.
Even though the risk of a catastrophic worldwide event is indeed increasing as every day passes, there may be an even a greater likelihood of personal doomsday events unfolding in our day to day lives that we can certainly prepare for to help offset the often traumatic natural series of events that follow. Here are just a few possible, or should I say probable scenarios that could create your own doomsday event.
Natural Disasters: I consider natural disasters personal doomsdays because of how localized they are. Properly preparing for such will depend largely on the likelihood of a specific event in your geographic area, i.e., earthquake, tornado, hurricane, flood, etc.
Job Loss: Losing expected monthly income can put a real strain on you and your family. When times are tight, having a little food stored away ease the burden.
Family Structure: Your family structure changing can be caused by a number of different things. The loss (or addition) to the family, divorce, a contributor moving out, or an accident can all change your priorities.
Severe Sickness: At one point or another in life all of us will have to handle situations like these. Injury, disease, or disability could affect us or our family members and loved ones.
Issues at Home: There are many issues around the house that could cause unwanted stress. There are constant repairs that need to be done around the home, and some are bigger than others. Unless you own your home outright, eviction and foreclosure might need to be considered as well.
Unexpected Expenses: This could fall into all the personal doomsday categories. Injuries at home, job loss, car accidents, and changes in the family could change our ability to pay the bills.
Personal Trauma: Situations like robbery, assault or mental trauma may or may not change our physical ability to get things done, but they could affect us mentally.
In order to be completely prepared, we need to pay attention to the small stuff. These “small” disaster scenarios will become big disaster scenarios if we are not properly prepared for such events. While these personal doomsdays may not be life threatening, they can dramatically affect the future of our families and loved ones. Let’s face it, life happens, and it happens more often than we would like. Personal doomsday scenarios like these shouldn’t define us. What should define us is how we react and recover from them.
As we are exposed more and more to such possible doomsday scenarios, we can become desensitized and begin to lose interest in preparedness, or lose our motivation. This is completely natural, and we all go through it at one point or another. The goal should be to avoid extended periods of stagnation. While we might have a little time to prepare for some disaster scenarios, some can spring on us at a moment’s notice.
It may be easier said than done depending on the situation, but there are ways to get back into prepping. If it’s the lack of money that is causing you to lose interest in preparedness, there are quite a few things you can do that don’t cost a dime. Prepping is not all about what supplies you have, prepping is also about learning new skills and learning to survive when those supplies aren’t available.
When it comes to the loss of a family member, or personal trauma, prepping can (for good reason) fall down on your list of priorities. While it’s important to take the time to grieve, or work through these issues, we can’t afford to let prepping sit on the back burner for too long. The fact of the matter is – we really are running out of time.
Source: https://thebulletin.org/
