ZetaTalk: Sharing Supplies
written December 15, 2007

We have a POD outside with stored goods such as water, etc. When the time comes and people are leaving the coasts for inland higher hills, and rampaging, pillaging, etc as they go, is it morally ethical to protect goods with a gun with the possibility of having to shoot people because they are determined to steal? My first impression is that killing is only allowed when one's person is in danger with that being the only option to prevent the self from being killed. What about property like that which is outside the house and basically essential to our survival? Of course, invasion inside the home, I would assume is okay to protect oneself.

In anticipation of crop shortages and the consequent rising price of food, many people have been steadily stocking up. Those who are anticipating the pole shift realize that there are many months, if not years, between the devastation of the pole shift and that point where a community can produce food to feed the community. Rice and beans and canned good are stashed in as large a quantity as the budget can allow, with the family eating the older supplies and replenishing. When the matter of having one's stock discovered by looting gangs comes up in discussions, the first thought is to defend the stock in the same manner one would defend the home. Is this not theft? Is it fair that those who planned and sacrificed in order to be prepared must share with those who partied until the end and then expected to be taken care of by others? Normally, this would be considered theft, but when there is no distribution of foods to stores, no food available to be purchased or secured by barter, what is the father of a hungry family to do?

Food fights occur because there is unequal distribution of what is available among the survivors. If there are gangs of healthy adults who are simply out to loot whatever another has, they should be treated like criminals. In that a police force is not available and the phone lines are down preventing anything like a 911 call, survival communities must use a vigilante force in these matters. It is far better to choose a location remote from cities, in rural areas, so as to keep a low profile and to stay out of the traffic lanes. But if one is trapped near a city or in the traffic lanes, then addressing the nature of the intruders is imperative. Service-to-Self gangs can be identified and give many clues as to their nature. They will be loaded with weapons and well fed, will not have any young or aged with them, and will probably be dragging captives they consider slaves or a future meal in a pinch along with them. These gangs should be dispatched without hesitation.

Those survivors who are good of heart will arrive ragged, the babes and toddlers being carried and the fact that they had been given food before the adults have eaten obvious as they will appear in good shape. Oldsters and the lame and wounded may be part of the group, being assisted along by the other adults. These people should not be turned away. If there is not enough food to support the newcomers, they should be given a good meal and sent on their way to seek another spot. If it is clear they will soon starve if sent on their way, then decisions should be made based on the whole of the survivor group, including the newcomers and those who put aside a stock of food to begin with, as to who will live and die. Clearly, anyone overweight should not eat anything but weeds for vitamin content. Anyone with a fatal disease or condition should consider dying sooner rather than later, for the good of others. Certainly, having unprotected sex so pregnancies result should be forbidden, and this decision should be enforced. If someone is only thinking of their pleasure, they should be expelled from the community. In many cultures, the aged volunteer to starve by refusing food and water so they pass quickly and painlessly.

In these matters, it is the soul that survives, and the soul must live with any decisions it makes. If you deny food to a starving toddler so that you can live, then what is the quality of your life afterwards?

Many people view with alarm the thought of food shortages and struggling with other people to wrest away a loaf of bread or fist fights over a bag of flour or rice. They view with alarm such thoughts, and their first thoughts are to stock up, to buy many of these items. Hoarding cannot be disguised. The police can come door-to-door, open the doors, and see a stock of food and this stock can be confiscated. These stocks will be confiscated as food shortages occur and hoarding is to be discouraged, so that fighting and arguments and theft do not happen, and this will be distributed to others. ZetaTalk: Hoarding, written Nov 15, 1999

Anyone who has a stock of food who does not find themselves at odds with the authorities will still be subject to theft from gangs or hungry neighbors. t is almost a welcome sign, saying come take this from me. The word would go out that this person or that person has a stock of food. So, in the end, hording is not a solution, even for those people who think they are clever and have very carefully hidden their food. People who are starving and frightened will aggressively attempt to find where the food has been buried. It is much safer to be able to produce food on a regular basis. ZetaTalk: Growing Food, written Nov 15, 1999