Survival

Recently, I came across a site called ‘Survivalblog’. I’ve long been fascinated of the idea of total self-reliance to survive against the harsh side of nature. I guess my interest was originally triggered by watching Sly Stallone’s movie - ‘First Blood’ when I was still a kid. Just like many others, I like the actions, guns and all that in that movie (or other similar movies as well). However, one thing that really stuck out in that movie is how Rambo can rely on his military knife to survive in the woods up in the mountain. I later came across an article about that knife, I can’t find the source of the article. But it basically was an anatomy of the knife inside out. Illustrating every part of the knife with what function it can perform. It was so interesting to me.

When I was in college, I pickup few books that are related to similar survival subject, like the first aid guide from St. John First Aid Group, the ‘Worst Scenarios’ series, and the ‘U.S. Army Survival Guide’. Of course, each of them has different focus, but the overall theme is all about Survival. Also, I then learnt the name of Dan Brown, not the author who wrote Da Vinci Code, but a famous survivalist who not only write books but also offer training course to teach people about survival in wilderness. I can’t recall whether he or one of his disciple was able to survive in the wild somewhere in Colorado or mid-West for 1 year with simply a knife with him. Not sure if that’s true or not, but it is certainly fascinating to me.

Maybe because of my immaturity and/or insecurity about the world, I always have a thought that despite all the materials procession and enjoyment that come with them, there is always possible some kind of crisis may hit us any time that we will be stripped from all modern social convenience that we are taking for grant now. So, it would be good to prepare ourselves to leave our house on short notice. Even for more practical reason, like if we are facing a fire or home invasion of some sorts, I can just pick up the most essential belongings and just go. That’s why every now and then, I would have a thought to pack a backpack of those essential stuffs and put that need the exit of my living place that is ready to be picked up and go.

Certainly, there is a separate set of thoughts in my mind on what should be inside that backpack. I’m not talking about the details list of stuff yet. What I’m actually thinking about is whether the backpack should include the most valuable things that would be hard/troublesome to replace? Such as education certificates, various ID documentations/proofs, financial related docs, jewelry and cash, etc. Or it should include a survival kit? Or both which could be quite heavy?

Anyway, after reading some articles in the survival blog, the most important thing that I learnt is that materials possessions are secondary. What really matter are the skill sets that you will need and you need to be able to practice them regularly, so that you can do things when you need. As usual, all I’ve done so far is still limited to reading and thinking. Nothing has really got my butt moving yet, that’s the problem.