It is tough, when you know that the responsible thing to do is to be prepared for anything life may through at you, to see those who blatantly disregard even basic preparation.

How much, though, should you try and persuade; here is one survivalist's story.

Over the next couple of months, I started picking out certain people who I had regular interaction with. The lady that runs the daycare my children go to. My boss and two veterans in my workplace. My former squad leader, who now owns his own construction business and has a very close group of employees and is also a leader at his church. The last one is one of the most important, for discretion we will call him John. I knew these people were rational and would be the right ones to have around, after SHTF.

You may wonder why the lady at my sons daycare. I want to make sure that my sons are cared for, in case the initial disaster takes my life. Over a few months of talking, I was able to get the daycare lady to start thinking about some of the disasters happening around the world. Then I started talking about theoretical things that could happen. She one day commented about how scared she was of something happening in our area. I asked if she had anything put aside for an emergency. She did not. I mentioned that I would be glad to give her some advice on putting some things away.

I started her off with a general list of standard, long-term foods and water. A few weeks later she proudly announced to me that she had “enough food to care for her family for a full month“. I acted very happy and congratulated her. On my way out, I casually asked if she had enough lights for a month. I don’t know if she figured out what I was doing or just decided that she liked feeling prepared but she finally asked for my advice on everything she would need for a disaster. I went all in. Her list included first aid supplies, a firearm, radios, fuel and everything I could think of.

Why my boss and two coworkers? My boss used to have his FFL. He collected and sold firearms before moving to Gatlinburg. He was an obvious choice to talk to about being ready. He likes the idea of short term prepping but not long-term. He says that he keeps enough to last three months but he doesn’t want to have to keep going any longer than that. I’ve tried talking about this but he’s set on it. I’m hoping that he will change his mind when the time comes. The other two at my work are both veterans, like myself, and they both have seen how bad humanity can be. They were really easy to sell on the idea of prepping.

Last but certainly not least is John. John lead me through two tours in Iraq. He was one of the easiest and hardest people to convince. John is very religious. He originally thought that as long as his soul was prepared then he wouldn’t need anything else. We discussed so many different scenarios and past events. The point that finally got him thinking was the Christians that were killed in Iraq. We met some of them. We recognized one of the neighborhoods that it showed ISIS killing people in. It showed him that he wasn’t as ready as he thought he was.

In an age when political violence and civil unrest seem part of our everyday existence, the likelihood of a manmade survival situation arising seems more and more a possibility.

We already know that nature throws survival situations at us, at least regionally, at every opportunity.

How to persuade the unprepared to get prepared, though, is a touchy subject; to read more on the topic, check out Survival Life.