Prepare For The Worst

“You do whatever you can to get to Chuck . If he doesn’t show by five , find a safe place . Find more like you, Fred, and get out.”

“Would you leave me behind?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not telling the truth. I can hear it in your voice . We’re both going to get to Chuck. You have to think of the positive, of the light, or the dark takes over.”

You have to prepare for the worst, Arlys thought, the incomprehensible worst or you could die in the dark.

Year One (Chronicles of The One) by Nora Roberts

Practical Pessimism

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“We might be accused of being a tad pessimistic. In fact, that is not entirely true, because while we do believe that we could, at any moment, lose our incomes and end up destitute, we also believe in ourselves enough to be confident that our jobs are not our only source of support. And that attitude is, ultimately, what led us to our current lifestyle. Seeing what was happening, we decided to not allow circumstance to force us into a situation where we might have to make that very difficult decision between feeding ourselves and having a place to live.”

Browsing Nature’s Aisles: A Year of Foraging for Wild Food in the Suburbs by Wendy Brown and Eric Brown

Prepared For Danger

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“He’s a big otter now. He knows what to do. Little Otter hopes they’ll follow. Little Otter fears they’ll swallow! Up and down, round and round, in and out, skid and spin – again he screeches, “Danger! Head in!””

Utterly Otterly Night, written by Mary Casanova and illustrated by Ard Hoyt

James Monroe and Peacetime Improvements

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JAMES MONROE FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1817

Peace is the best time for improvement and preparation of every kind; it is in peace that our commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the revenue is most productive.

United States Presidents’ Inaugural Speeches by United States. Presidents.

 

Burn and Crash

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“It may well turn out that burning through available resources, and then crashing into ruin, is simply the most efficient way for a civilization to end.”

Green Wizardry: Conservation, Solar Power, Organic Gardening, and Other Hands-On Skills From the Appropriate Tech Toolkit by John Michael Greer

Preparation and Bravery

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I have realized that part of being Dauntless is being willing to make things more difficult for yourself in order to be self-sufficient. There’s nothing especially brave about wandering dark streets with no flashlight, but we are not supposed to need help, even from light. We are supposed to be capable of anything. I like that. Because there might come a day when there is no flashlight, there is no gun, there is no guiding hand. And I want to be ready for it.

Divergent (Divergent Series) by Veronica Roth

Planning is not for Camping

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As I prepare for my luxurious summer vacation (camping in the woods), I give you this:

I don’t like plans. They get in the way of everything else

Gold Runner: A Novella of Goblins, Theft, and Teenage Gods (United States of Asgard) by Tessa Gratton

 

 

Refusing to Think

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“When people say “X is infinite,” what they are actually saying is “I refuse to think about X.””

Green Wizardry: Conservation, Solar Power, Organic Gardening, and Other Hands-On Skills From the Appropriate Tech Toolkit by John Michael Greer

Reasonably Advanced

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“…it’s entirely possible to have a technologically advanced and humane society without having electricity on demand from sockets on every wall across the length and breadth of a continent, or mortgaging our future to allow individuals to zoom around in hopelessly inefficient personal vehicles on an extravagant system of highways.”

Green Wizardry: Conservation, Solar Power, Organic Gardening, and Other Hands-On Skills From the Appropriate Tech Toolkit by John Michael Greer

Scared and Prepared

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I Know Things Now

“Do not put your faith in a cape and a hood.
They will not protect you the way that they should.
And take extra care with strangers,
even flowers have their dangers,
And though scary is exciting,
Nice is different than good.
Now I know, don’t be scared.
Granny is right, just be prepared.
Isn’t it nice to know a lot?
..And a little bit.. not.”

Into The Woods, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine