are you ready?

i originally intended to post this in september, but life got in the way. with the natural disaster and nuclear catastrophe in japan, and tornado time upon us, seems like a good time, to put it out for general consumption.

show of hands, who knew september was NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH? i didn't until i heard a radio interview with some government wonk LIVE from our state fair. a bit of research turned up this site, ready.gov. more on that a bit later.

i'm not certain whether it is coincidence or planned that National Preparedness Month falls in september because of 9/11, but that, coupled with a statement made by my friend THE CAMBRIDGE LADY over at JUST WAFFLING, as well as a book and movie got me to thinking.
the book was recommended to me by best bud SKI over at GLOBAL DOMINATION. the book is THE LAST CENTURION, and is about an army officer who single handed fights his abandoned company back to the states from the middle east, after the world population is decimated by bird flu and another ice age. once home, our hero helps reorganize survivors, gets farms working again, and destroys some city/state caliphates. yeah, i know it's a reach to think 1 guy could do all of that, but the author mixes a couple of dooms day scenarios together pretty well in showing how our society could unravel, and what the government may do in extreme circumstances.

the movie, ( i read the book after watching, i was so intrigued) was THE ROAD. for those who have not watched or read it, it is about a father and son trying to survive after we apparently nuke ourselves into nuclear winter. the wife said it was depressing but i think that was due to dad constantly putting a gun to the kids head if danger approached to keep the child from being captured, raped, killed and eaten by the lawless cannibals roaming the desolate land. the mother, weak of spirit, had already abandoned them by committing suicide. the story is really about perseverance in the face of incredible adversity, hope and love. the man loves his son so much he shields him from the mothers desire to kill the boy and herself. so much that he will kill the boy rather than let the monsters that humans have become defile him. his hope is to find somewhere warm for them to live, so that the boy may survive, and the father ends up dying in the process.

i wasn't so caught up in the story line, good as it was, but found myself asking if the man was doing the right thing in the situations presented to him. how would i handle something similar? AM I READY?

check part 2 to see if you are.