$15.00 Minimum Wage?

I really thought this through and hope you read it. I don't expect to change you viewpoint. That's not my job. Time and experience will teach you just like it teaches everyone. What I WOULD like is to show you that others aren't evil schemers or cruel or unkind because we see a different solution to a problem. I hate, h.a.t.e. HATE this one-sided blind arguing.  It isn't Us vs. Them, no matter what we've been taught to believe.

Hot button issues are designed to incite division.  The only reason it works is because the problem is real.  Pretend you are in my kitchen having a nice conversation.  Perhaps it will help to stop that "Us vs. Them" mentality, and possibly end this horrible divisiveness and hatefulness.

Let me start by saying, if you were at my house I'd offer you coffee or tea and we'd sit at my kitchen table and eat toast and smile a lot and joke and probably like each other, because we're decent folks. I'm a roundish gramma lady who loves to chat and feed people, and I make folks comfortable. I am kind, fairly intelligent, most who know me would probably tell you that I'm very nice. I'm just a no nonsense, cut through the crap kind of a person.

So, on with it.  I strongly disagree with an enforced $15.00 an hour minimum wage law as a solution to economic struggle among our nations' poor.  Generally skipping past the financial problems and inflation and whatnot, lets get straight to the conflict point: caring and kindness

No one is saying that the wage to cost of living gap isn't growing or that life isn't a financial strain on some more than on others.  Discerning the situations on a personal level and offering help to people who sincerely need it is generally not a problem for anyone from either "side" of the argument.  No decent human being wants to see others struggle under prolonged financial pressures.  I simply don't see an inflated minimum wage as a viable solution in any of the arenas that will be affected by enacting such a law.

I believe that people, like butterflies, or baby chicks, no matter how they struggle or how it hurts our hearts to see their hardship and seeming agony, if we help them escape the trials of emerging from their shells we doom them to catastrophic failure that they will never overcome. It looks so impossible, but they can do it. It's how they are made and it is necessary to their existence.

People grow, become strong, and get the beautiful opportunity to experience life and have a wonderful sense of accomplishment through hardship and struggle. Forcing others to intervene is a way to pass the buck and salve pricked emotions without doing anything of lasting value to helps anyone including yourself. In my mind, it's a terrible thing to do to them, to yourself, as well as being a bad thing to do to those who are forced to pay for it, which, by the way, is not going to be the corporations.  It's going to be you and me, the consumers.  I see it all as unhelpful, unkind, and unjust.

If we personally involve ourselves and our OWN resources in charity, which we are all responsible to do, we will quickly learn where the line between charity and entitlement is drawn in our own minds, and then no amount of argument or shouting will sway our conviction. As long as we aren't hands on and invested personally, we have no skin in the game and it's easy to point fingers and look accusingly at other people, but we CAN NOT pawn off our personal responsibility.

We can never legislate our responsibility for personal charity away. We will always have the poor among us, and we will have to see it and deal with it on a personal level. To try pass some legislation to relieve us of the burden of responsibility only further involves government into corporations and further restricts individual liberty.  Government + corporations = bad.  I would rather keep them totally out of it.

I hear all the cacophony about, "it's not charity, it's about living wages..." but, actually,  it is about charity.  It's about misplacing your charitable feelings of wanting to help someone by forcing someone else to do it instead.  That is a vicious and never ending cycle.  It will never be enough to fulfill you or satisfy them.  Ever.

"But, the evil corporations!"  No doubt corruption is rampant and profit to the top levels and the politicians is hair raising.  I doubt we know the depths of it all, but who will hire you if not those who can create jobs?  Will someone magically create employment if actual people and their businesses stop employing you?  Even if those people are scamming and cheating, or whatever they may be doing, they are providing millions of jobs that will not be replaced if we "rid ourselves of this evil!"

"It's about appreciating employees!"  Well, firstly, employees agreed to the terms when they accepted the conditions of hire.  Secondly, maybe a little thankfulness for a job and some appreciation to the employer is in order.  Not all appreciation has to be directed at the employee.  In fact, that's a fairly recent view to have.  Thanklessness is, in my view, the biggest part of the problem anyway, but that is a different blog for a different day.

Change you viewpoint and attitude about your job.  Be the guy people LIKE to be around.  Anyone can stand around and gripe about their job, and draw a crowd doing it.  Contrary to popular belief, that crowd, those numbers, do not represent a movement and do not indicate the rightness of their argument.  It usually represents the easiness of the path.  There is no strength or growth there.

Some NEED charity, and are usually the last to say anything, let alone DEMAND.  There is no experience like providing that to them for y.o.u.r.s.e.l.f.  There are many life lessons in giving and receiving charity.  Dot miss out on either. 

Some seek an easy path: help breaking through their shell. Don't help them. It may seem cruel or uncaring but quite the contrary. It will make matters worse.  They simply need to work: hard and long.  Work, think, learn logic and reasoning, break through and grow up.

Still others are horrible, freeloading layabouts, masterfully scamming the system and robbing hardworking taxpayers.  Whether few or many is debatable, but they are there and anything they are receiving as a handout, a charitable gift, or an entitlement needs to be stopped.

Also, money is rarely the real issue.  Again, a different blog for a different day.

The moral of the story:  A kind heart is manifest in many ways. Please don't assume that people aren't kind because they see solutions in different ways.

My 2.

GOOD TIMBER
by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight,

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out on the open plain,

And always got it’s share of rain,

Never became a forest king,

But lives and dies a scrawny thing.

The man who never had to toil,

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share,

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man,

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow in ease,

The stronger the wind, the stronger trees

The farther sky, the greater the length

The more the storm, the more the strength,

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In tree and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

This is the common law of life.

B.O.B.

Do you have a Bug Out Bag? I'd like to know what you consider you're MOST ESSENTIAL items.  I welcome any and all intelligent input.

For all my prepping and big talk, I don't have a ready bag. I'm going to remedy that ASAP. I don't hold the popular view of a B.O.B. Read on and I'll explain why.

First, I don't think you need MOST of what is being hard sold to the modern "prepper" market. If it says prepper, survival, any of the "cool" catch words in their advertising, I'm immediately suspect, and looking at that particular item with a wary eye. It might be a good product, but marketeering is a BIG red flag (and a turn off) to me.

It's my belief that B.O.B. is to get you from point A to point B. It's not a camp out bag or a spend time in the woods bag... whatever. If you're bugging out, #1. You'd better have a destination planned, and #2. You only carry the essentials to get you there. You should have preps stashed at you B.O.L. enough to keep you a few days until it is safe to move on, go back, or go to a contingency location.

Honestly consider and assess your skill level.  Pack accordingly.  If you haven't already practiced starting fires with sticks in the rain you will probably need a lighter or some sort of other fire starter.  Don't try to be Mr. Bushcraft when your safety is on the line.



1.)  Weight:  Be smart. You are only as fast as the slowest person in your group, and you have to know your own capabilities. DO NOT over pack. Bug out bags are for emergency travel. FOOT travel. The more you have the harder the trip. Think it through.

2.)  Water: Take water. Have water ALREADY IN YOUR BAG. Don't wait til you're bugging out to say, "Oh, hang on while I fill my water." You can't make it without water.  A life straw or something to purify water would be a definite plus.

3.)  Tarp for shelter. You need it. Elements claim more people than most other things in a survival situations.  There are some pretty nice mylar foil type blankets that are very compact that might be a good thing to have in case of a drop in night time temperatures.  The prices vary greatly, but if you shop it you can find them at a fairly reasonable price.

4.)  Clothing. I'm not going to carry much for changes of clothing.  Lightweight things to change into while you dry or clean the ones you are wearing is about all I will have.  Having a separate small bag attached to the outside with additional clothing in case changes in the weather require it would be smart. Then if you need it you can take it, and if not you can take it off and spare yourself the additional weight and bulk. An extra pair or two of socks might be smart. If your feet hurt or get wet, it's the makin's of a horrible trip.

Additions to clothing: I know a guy who has a "naked bag" stuck right to the outside of his B.O.B. He says it's in case he's in the shower and something happens and he has to run for it-- RIGHT NOW: NAKED. Then he'll have clothes at the ready. Pretty good idea, actually. If you don't use it, you can jettison it later to lighten your load.

5.)  Food. I'm not going to carry food that has to be cooked, only fuel for the trip, and as lightweight as I can find. No pans for cooking, no using water to boil dried foods. Just energy bars, calories/carb dense foods. Remember, B.O.B. is for MOVING, not for being Grizzly Adams.  B.O.B. implies S.H.T.F. and what is generally considered to be a hazardous time, so I don't think starting fires would be a good idea unless it's absolutely necessary.  

6.)  Gear. What's essential for me may be different from what is essential for you, so think and plan-- then pack.  A good multipurpose knife, a multi tool, some paracord, a couple of disposable lighters and maybe a fire starter puck, flashlight, a small first aid kit, fishing line... essentials is all you should have in a B.O.B.  

7.)  Bag. I chose this pic, because I'd take that rig in a heartbeat, but truth is, you don't absolutely need any particular type of a bag. Some are made better than others and are tried and true, made for the job, and have very functional components, etc... but if you don't have one, don't be deterred. Just get something sturdy that you can easily carry for long periods. Fill it with what you NEED. Don't buy every top dollar item that's out there. A ten dollar Morakniv would be as good as any knife. A kitchen knife is better than NO knife.

8.)  Special Supplies:  People who need medication or have some special need that can't be ignored had better have a ready bag with that stuff, and you'd better schedule rotation for it so it's as up to date as possible at all times.  Considerations for children, elderly, women's needs, anything peculiar to your group... address it and provide.

Just think about it long and hard. What is essential? What is not? What does it weigh? Can the weakest/smallest person in your group manage their bag?  Are you able to operate the things in your bag successfully?

Pipe up, jump in. I'd like to hear what you think.