prepare for life... aggressively

[rockriver]

i've seen some mods comment that survival and prep is not just for disaster but for life and all of its challenges.
this might be considered a rant.
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sometimes i've emphasized on the disaster part.
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i've been to a few college graduations prompting some of these thoughts.
i'm looking for other thoughts along this line of "prepping" whether it is schooling or learning to balance your checkbook.
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at a graduation from a top u.s. univ... i was shocked to see how many foreigners were there... and winning awards.
kenya, egypt, china, iran, pakistan, belarus, israel etc.. more brown folks than white folks.
we americans need to encourage our youth to pursue a high standard of education. whether it is your lineage or the kid in you s.s. class or your neighbors kids.

i met members of the communist party, muslims, jews, nothings. a sharp kid i know went to his preacher at a large church to inquire about college choices.
the preacher said, "well, i didn't know you were smart enough for college.. if you are, you need to go to our denominational school."
what horrible advice for that particular student." i worked with some youth at another church.. i realized the church did not encourage their youth to strive for education after high school. we had some real sharp kids. when i started talking about various colleges and technical schools they should be considering the main leader countered my comments. he emphasized the need to love the Lord and prepare their soul... nothing wrong with that sentence. BUT, horrible advice.
neither the preacher nor the main youth leader had gone to college. who do we want studying and developing fuel choices? kenyan muslims or american atheists.
i vote for the american atheist.
it's my and your job to encourage these kids. to push them to be the best they can.
wouldn't it be nice for a sharp kid from a broke family to go to one of america's toughest capitalist colleges. graduate and come back to your town to help encourage and grow the industrial/retail/transportation industries in your community.

example. a yankee graduate of a top school came to my nearby big city and married a local southern girl. he started a big business. the town needed a new industry. yankee called some of his connections from "top school" and got a huge industrial manufacturer to move to my nearby big city.
you've heard the line "sometimes it is who you know." going to any school, tech school, community college, state college, state univ, u.s. best univ. brings a student into contact with future leaders.

i heard a half dozen different stories of new businesses that these new graduates had already started, or were about to. (none of them will be in my neck of the woods!) one reason is that our community leadership has been taken over by the welfare folks. this resulted in the local private schools going to pot.
what business leader would want to bring his business to our community so that he could put his daughters in our local schools. nah.
staying involved in your school system would be a good idea.

continuation of rant later. contributions... invited... opinions welcomed... contrary opinions invited too!
rr

[1Admin]

Well said. I'm gonna sticky this.

Our kids need a high level education but also need to balance that with being able to do hands on skills, i.e, know a trade, etc.

The guy that is educated, can sell an Arabian sand that can also do carpentry, machine work, whatever on the side is the guy that will rarely ever go hungry.

Lots of folks got pinched in the "housing bubble"- smart ones start looking at other career options years ago. Some are still holding on but crying about how slow it was/is.

Always have options, most especially when it comes to INCOME.

[Irish-Tech]

How many years in a row has a Asian kid won the spelling bee? White kids spend to much time playing games, and not enough time with studies. Yes, that is a generalization.

[RobertJ]

We are now reaping "The Dumbing Down of America". That only took a bit over a decade. Sad times indeed.

I tried to teach my nephew a bit about wrenching on a vehicle last year (hes 16 this year) walked away saying "this is stupid! This is why they have repair shops"... and went into his house right to the X-Box where he stayed for 3 hours (his mothers rule, all he can play in a day) tried to talk to her about it, but she said if hes not interested theres nothing she can do. grrrrr

[rockriver]

military

what a start for a young man.... serving their country. and talk about awesome training.

and just for the record - i haven't served in the military.

but we need to understand that many bad organizations are sending their members into our military services..
to get the members of their "organizations" trained up. weapons, tactics, leadership. oh yeah. they get a good chance to kill some folks that aren't in "their organization" while there too!

encourage the bright young men (i better say women too. though i'm not in favor of women in combat) to join.
others here can explain the process and some options better than me... i hope you do.. and go ahead and explain why your branch is better than all the others too.

a close associate got the desire to serve. he wanted to learn it all. he wanted to get it the best and the most thorough. he applied to west point... a 4 year college degree and commissioned as a lt. when he got out.
many of his relatives laughed. many of his classmates asked why he didn't go to a good college. he signed up for the hard courses and spent his summers at tough military schools. he served in the middle east. there is a 5 year commitment. our tax dollars paid for this 4 year degree. but he worked nights, weekends, summers, and 5 tough years to repay the U.S.
several friends of his enlisted as basic privates.. when he sees them he respects them, and they respect him.
there is something that these guys know when they see each other. i haven't been there. i'm guessing it's the mutual respect of all that serving means... vets, can you explain this to us... so it will help the folks on these pages to encourage our young folks to serve.

when close associate above went to the civilian job market and explained what he had learned, led, and done, he was quickly offerred work. one step led to another..

another option with a fast track to being an officer is rotc in college. most colleges have a rotc program that will just about completely pay for a 4 year college education. college is available to the poorest family you know.
the graduating student will get the same commission as the student who went to the military academy and have a much easier path. this process is a much more normal college experience.

some folks don't want to be officers.. they can enlist.. pay won't be as good. benefits will be great.
hopefully, when they get in, they will raise their hand to take a pile of extra training. air assault, languages, airborne, sapper, ranger, divers, are just a few that i've heard of that the army has.
alright veterans. tell about your branch.

a close associate went air force. enlisted. learned electronics and worked radios. 13? near crashes, (drug a wing, landing gear collapsed, engines went out, etc) got out of the air force. air force service time provided for his college degree. went to a challenging engineering college. and this was a poorest of poor son of a broke dirt farmer. then went back into the reserves and made lt. col. before retiring. at age? 60 (maybe it was 65) he started getting a modest retirement check based on his full time and part time service. he earned it.. but it opened many doors for this poor kid who grew up barefoot, walking behind a mule.

a vet of afghanistan, then went back as a contractor. he was applying to a college... never would have got in, but his military experience opened doors.. he could discuss with the college reps, what was happening there, and the politics of the situation. they realized he knew more that the folks behind ivy.

we've got to tell our neighbors and their kids, and our relatives about the opportunities out there for them to improve their situation. which will improve your village, state and nation.

in my area, most kids are being told, grow fat, or act dumb and get yourself declared disabled and get yu a chek. and to be honest about it, the finances of our welfare system are very generous and appealing.
but it ain't no way to be a man. and contribute to your village, regardless of what the political organizers tell you.
yee hah.
ok. off my soapbox for now...
but you veterans will read this and see obvious flaws... help me out!!

[rockriver]

a couple of stories of folks aggressively preparing

1. a jewish family lived in russia/east europe. persecution was heavy...
one morning. the young daughter heard. the shouting and listened from above.
"there is a jewish family on the eighth floor. get them" the shtf for this family.
they very quickly left all they had and made it to a bug out location. a country with other jews, but had a dangerous trip. the parents were highly trained professionals.
from there, because they had worked hard to prepare themselves, they were brought to the u.s. by a major company. the young girl is now about 30. she has studied hard and graduating from a major univ.. the story isn't over... but the preparing is underway aggressively to make a difference..

2. communists have taken over an american continent country. killing their enemies.
a man in the public eye, speaks out against the commies. he is killed. a close relative in a surprise win, defeats the commies in a national election and becomes president.. it's a tough job. many challenges. a grandchild of the new president has high prospects... he comes to the u.s. and gets into a top univ. and is taking courses to prepare himself- business, public affairs, international business. he is tall and good looking fellow. carries himself like a leader... the story is not over, but he is doing his part to go back and help his country and make a difference.

aren't you glad this post was shorter!!.

[xdpatriot]

X-Box where he stayed for 3 hours (his mothers rule, all he can play in a day) tried to talk to her about it, but she said if hes not interested theres nothing she can do. grrrrr

Man, I hope my kids don't see that, they only get 1 hr a week!

[protus]

Well said. I'm gonna sticky this.

Our kids need a high level education but also need to balance that with being able to do hands on skills, i.e, know a trade, etc.

The guy that is educated, can sell an Arabian sand that can also do carpentry, machine work, whatever on the side is the guy that will rarely ever go hungry.

Lots of folks got pinched in the "housing bubble"- smart ones start looking at other career options years ago. Some are still holding on but crying about how slow it was/is.

Always have options, most especially when it comes to INCOME.

the bold.Is exactly what needs to be done.

Some here know what i do for my line of work.
I see so many "kids" aka young adults that cant or do not know how or have the "want" to do anything past "ask" for it to be done by someone else.

There are some out there that do try, few and far between.Honestly when we were kids how many of you all took something apart( aka broke it) LOL , just to see how it worked..i know i did.
But i also went to college and private schools etc and to this day continue to re educate my self by CEC course's for my work. Im far from 150 on the IQ scale,,maybe a 128 ;P cant be all brains with these good looks.

But our society has made it the norm to just over look the hands on part of life, from what we eat ( who grows or harvest their food anymore,,not a large % of society) to not fixing anything ( disposable items ). Heck i had a co worker ( women in our office) state " if i have to change the tires on my car i may as well buy a new one.." because she said tires would cost around 4-600$,,so why bother. Her "old" car was a new Camry (2010 at least and up) .....

i cant say how we can fix it, but the more we move away from self production/sufficiency and become dependent on "others" to provide the worse it will become over time..and technology doesnt help imho.

[motesjm]

Education is important. Being a problem solver and a go getter is even more important. When my kids come up against an obstacle I try to teach them to have two thoughts foremost in their minds - 'I can' and 'I will.'.

When those two ideas are primary, learning or discovering 'how do I' becomes a natural part of life. Unfortunately, those principles are completely stripped from kids in the socialist education system.

[rockriver]

a short post!
talk about aggressive living.

a u.s. soldier was in charge of his unit in the mid east. the d___ rag heads had over run their defensive area. he called in gun ships to attack "his position" they made it out.
he applied for and was accepted and graduated from a top u.s. university.

i told the dean of the business school, that i was pleasantly surprised to see several veterans among their students. she told me that they loved the veterans. they wanted them at their school. on the first day of class, every professor would pick one student, hand them the chalk, put them on the spot and insist that they answer a specific detailed question. the veterans would do so immediately, without hestitation, knowing the benefit of speaking clearly and with a strong command voice,
demonstrate the answer. regular students at the fancy univ. could not.
therefore most professors would scan the class roll and choose military men/women to "pick on" that first day. they Knew the vets would give a fine example of how it should be done.

encourage your sharpest and brightest to stand for their country.
what they learn is acknowledged in academia.
it will help them in the next step of their life.

yee hah!
(i can't properly pronounce the huuhah that i hear soldiers and marine exclaim. so you get yee hah)

[rockriver]

tech schools

i have several stretches in tech schools to teach me my trade.
my employer was going through a financial lock down.
and didn't want to spend the money.. bad decision on their part.
finally they agreed.
greatly increased my skill.. and saved them big bucks in the long run.

whether it is hvac, electrical, hair cutting, auto repair,
encourage your neighbors kids to go to school. improve themselves.
especially in this job market..
i'm helping a friend with a commercial kitchen installation.
he can "do it all."
electrical, plumbing, gas, appliance, welding, framing, you name it..
best education i've ever had... just watching and learning.
and if there is a further breakdown, if your nephew, son, daughter in law, neighbor's kids have
studied and trained to be a mechanic, nurse, farmer, think of the huge contribution they can be
to their village.

[Lowdown3]

The boy made me proud last night. We were out and about and I asked him what he wanted to study in college- still a long way off.

"Well I want to sell PVS14's and such and such and probably raise some such and such and sell them (basically mentions all the businesses family is involved in). So what would I need to go to college for?"

His Mom says "Business Management, Marketing, all the stuff Dad did, but he learned most of that by doing it."

I added in, "you also need to learn some practical skills as well, some of what we do involves some practical skills like carpentry, etc. but you need to learn a little hands on type stuff. "

He mentions our style of MA, "that's a practical skill."

I laugh, "only if your plan is to choke people to death and take their stuff!" Then I added in that yes he could one day teach it and make some side cash also. He knows Dad makes a little side cash here and there teaching combatives, shooting, etc.

Proud that he wants to continue the family business, and realizing that him keeping the family businesses going if I ever retire is another way to have a retirement income. Ala the Phil Robinson "Willie took this way further than I ever did, that's fine, send me a check every month, I'll be in the woods (or at the range!)"