Where Do We Go From Here?

This has been an ongoing situation in my home. It started in 2009 when I explained to my wife that I was going to close my retirement accounts and convert it to physical gold and silver. She freaked out. To be honest, I was freaked as well. I had no idea what I was doing, I knew very little about gold and silver nor did I have a clue how to go about acquiring coins, bars or anything other than jewelry that you would buy at the mall.

One of the best tools, that helped my situation more than just about anything else, was the swarm of tornados that blew through Alabama and Missouri in 2011. We go to the Gulf Coast on a regular basis, so she could see the destruction with her own eyes. Over 200 tornados went through Alabama in a 24 hour period. Wiped out Tuscaloosa, Al. leaving a scar almost a mile wide. Unfortunately, 11 people lost their lives. That is an incredibly small number considering the level of devastation; it could have been hundreds or thousands of people. I am not saying that 11 people dying is a reason to celebrate, especially for the families that suffered the lose. What I remained focused on were the people left in the wake of this nightmare. No food, no water, no electricity, no shelter. Thousands of homes and business simply vanished. All of these people still had to eat, drink, get in out of the weather and stay warm. This opened up the dialogue with my wife in an unprecedented manner. She was now willing to listen. She now understood that being a good steward of our lives means being prepared for situations we have no control of or foreknowledge. It just happens. The world does not end, we don’t all die but our world simply changed in a flash. This is what being a good steward is all about. I am not a “prepper”, I am a good steward of my home and my family. My grandparents were good stewards, they had to be, living through the depression. Back then it was called, living right, living a prudent life, being a good steward.

My how things have changed! Our lives are much different now. In just seven short years my wife has come about 170 degrees of the 180 degrees required to move in the opposite direction. The key–continue meeting her where she is at; describing what she knows, what she can see. Explaining to her what she is listening to on talk radio, the TV news and any other sources of information she encounters.

ASKING her to stop a program, rewind and asking her to LISTEN to what the person actually said. The MSM is really great at delivering clues regarding the truth behind an event. An event like Sandy Hook should be a no-brainer for anyone who is of a prepared mindset, acquires physical gold and silver and is attempting to get their spouse on board with the truth about our world. A very simple question is all that’s required to make your spouse ask themselves questions—Where are the children that were in attendance at Sandy Hook School on the day of the shooting? Why is there less then ten still photographs of any people on the scene? Remember Columbine? Video tape of hundreds of kids going in every direction? Why is there absolutely no video evidence of Sandy Hook?

Once these seeds are planted, your spouse is off to the races!

These are simple, unanswerable questions. The photos do not exist, video tape does not exist and the story line changed so many times the first two days of the event that everyone was left scratching their head at the volume of misinformation! This is when the door opens. When your spouse is asking questions about an event, like Sandy Hook, yours may differ, then the opportunity has arrived. You can use this one event to begin explaining this type of misinformation is rampant. With my wife, this is usually where she would either get upset and stop listening or she would simply tell me her brain is overloaded and I needed to shut up!! I would shut up and go about my business. Two to three weeks later, something else happens and the conversation would begin again.

Today our situation is much different. We are currently looking for the house in which we plan on retiring. She wants our house to be defendable, she understands our house needs to be away from a main road–as far as possible without creating hardship for us. Our lifestyle has changed dramatically. We now have everyday household items for months, not days. We have a fully stocked freezer and are saving for a solar powered generator.

Her sister has a gasoline powered generator–big enough to power most of a house. I ask my wife where her sister stores the back-up gasoline? She doesn’t. She only has enough to get through two days. My wife now understands that two days is not enough, for ANYTHING, especially, powering a house!

So, meet your spouse where they are. If your spouse believes you are a member of the “tin-foil-hat club” then use an event that will help her understand you are NOT talking about teotwawki. Explain you are making an attempt to be better organized in case either of you develop a long term illness, are in a car accident and break a bone or several bones and you are not able to generate an income for several weeks or months. Why is that out of the ordinary? Life happens and we all need to better stewards of our families, our homes and our communities.