Do you fear who you are capable of becoming if the SHTF?

I want to believe that I would help as many people as I can.
I want to believe that there will still be good in everybody.
I want to believe that I will still be treated fairly by other people.
I want to believe that no one would want to harm me.
I want to believe that I would never have to use the gun I bought for protection.

But what I fear most is what I may be capable of becoming if I had to to survive. Have you honestly thought what you would be capable of doing to survive?

reply to post by Shystargazer


I already know who I am and what I'm capable of, with no constraints,I am perfectly capable of dispensing justice and enforcing righteousness ,the good kind things I do all the time and that will continue

Most of all I fear becoming a sheeple if it means survival. Going with the flow. Under the radar. Taking the mark of the beast, so to speak. Though I swear I have no intent to, what if the SHTF and I find out I am not made of the material I thought I was?

On the other hand:

I fear having to turn away friends or neighbors in order to not starve my kids.

I fear being willing to kill someone else to get their assets (food & water), if it means survival for my kids.

I'd like to hope I would be good and noble and do the right thing. But I know human nature, MY nature, and I can say that under even mild duress I sometimes do things which cause me to dislike myself. I don't know myself well enough to know what I would do if the SHTF.

I pray that I never have to find out. And since it is looking as if I *will* have to find out, I pray that I will have the strength of character to BE the kind of person I talk about being.

Everyone is a humanitarian until the food runs out.


Do I look forward to reverting and degressing backward into cave man mode in order to survive? No....not at all. I like the things that we have long taken for granted like heat, electricty, running water, safety.

Will I revert back to the fight or flight mentallity, the kill or be killed mode, when needed? Yes I will, but I dont look forward to it and I believe it will be a miserable path of existence to say the least.

I intend to go the road of the isolationist and withdraw from human society entirely, and if those who look to harm me make such an effort to find me that I will be in danger, well, they will get what they are looking for. A hot piece of lead between the eyes.

Sad to see that things may likely come to this within my life time, but a man has to do what he must in order to survive.

My feeling is you will become more of what you already are. If you lead a good and moral life and want good things and have a kind heart, you will be amplified with that character 100 fold. Life is what you make of it. I go through each day saying to myself when i do something i feel wrong about saying to myself i should not have done that and try much harder to not repeat that mistake again. Believe it or not that actually works if you make a conscious effort to do it. It is all about who you are and who you want to become. That is the true battle between good and evil if you will. Imagine the bad side of your ID on one shoulder and the good side of your ID on the other and each fighting to influence you through out your entire life. Which one will you listen to. It's all about Karma.

[edit on 11/18/2008 by CaptGizmo]

[edit on 11/18/2008 by CaptGizmo]

reply to post by Shystargazer

Of course that would be the ideal scenario, but have you ever seen people panic?

A drowning man will pull you down with him.

Folks trying to get on the last plane out will throw others off.

Folks who are starving will snatch the food out of the hands of children.

Folks who are hungry will kill you for what you have.

Previously rational people will under extreme circumstances resort to cannibalism.

Being kind and helpful to others is a noble gesture, but before you reach your hand out, I would suggest you have a gun on them.


[edit on 18-11-2008 by dooper]

Originally posted by Shystargazer
I want to believe that I would help as many people as I can.
I want to believe that there will still be good in everybody.
I want to believe that I will still be treated fairly by other people.
I want to believe that no one would want to harm me.
I want to believe that I would never have to use the gun I bought for protection.

But what I fear most is what I may be capable of becoming if I had to to survive. Have you honestly thought what you would be capable of doing to survive?

All the time. What if you have to kill someone? What if you liked it?

I would never hurt a child or a women, i know that in my heart. But if your a man and the SHTF and you have what my 3 kids need. well lets just say the things i would do to get it would make the director of the Saw movies cringe. Hate to admit but it's true.

Also, ikeep alot of charcole around which would be handy if you had to be carved up and fed to the family. MMMMMM taste like chicken hugh kids? or, Don't worry honey i got a pheasant down the road.

To tell you the truth, I never want to be in this situation, but if I was, for myself I have no clue how I'd react if it was just myself.

But my family, I'd do anything to see them survive... my son, I'd fight tooth and nail and do things I wouldn't do just to see him make it. When it comes to him you don't mess with me.

Originally posted by anotherdad
I would never hurt a child or a women, i know that in my heart. But if your a man and the SHTF and you have what my 3 kids need. well lets just say the things i would do to get it would make the director of the Saw movies cringe. Hate to admit but it's true.

And what if the person you are going after has three kids of his own? Damn them? It is human nature to be savage when dealing with arkic and truley primal times. But for myself....I would not kill someone to merely get what they have. Espcially if they have children of thier own. Instead of killing them for what they have try a more domestic approach. Trade, Barter, offer manual labour or anything else to share in wht they have.

An idea like that is where communties are born, and the thought of killing others without any morals leads to truely scarry times in my eyes.

When i read this topic. I though about something.

Why are we willingly to help and die for our country and people in our war on terror quest.
But not if a natural disaster should happen.

I dont get it.

Originally posted by Trayen11
And what if the person you are going after has three kids of his own? Damn them? Instead of killing them for what they have try a more domestic approach. Trade, Barter, offer manual labour or anything else to share in wht they have.

An idea like that is where communties are born, and the thought of killing others without any morals leads to truely scarry times in my eyes.

If they have kids i would go with the pheasant story and feed them, If i took his life i would have that responsability.

Barter and trade Yeah! so you have 2 potatoes and 3 cups of rice but if i mow your lawn you will give it to me. Hope you felt proud when checked Obama/Biden.

Scary times indead, but by now my 2 adult women and 3+ kids can worry about how society feels about me, then we will discuss it over dinner. Eventually if i do well enough others will come to me with food and offerings to be a part of my "Community".

Sucks, i would never want it to happenn but, "kill or be killed" the worst part would be living with myself afterwords.

(bb code)

[edit on 18/11/08 by Jbird]

Originally posted by spy66
When i read this topic. I though about something.

Why are we willingly to help and die for our country and people in our war on terror quest.
But not if a natural disaster should happen.

I dont get it.

I agree we should be willing to fight for our fellow man,woman,and children together as communities and not as individuals. An organized community can make miracles happen.

reply to post by anotherdad


Well that your opinion and your way of seeing things, truth be told im glad im very far away from you. Also I never voted for Obama/Biden. I'm not even American. Don't assume everyone around here is American.

Obama/Biden have nothing to do with wether or not i would murder someone who is just looking out for thier family.

Now if said father came after me and mine for what I had, I would defend myself and my family. But would i activley seek out people for what they have and kill them for it...not likely. It's called being self suffecient in dire times.

I am by nature a very peaceful man. I go with the flow, live and let live and have a simple premise in my life . . . every day the sun comes up and the sun goes down, and anything that happens in between is pretty much cool.

That's how I was up until about three months ago when I realized that the time was soon coming that it would be survival of the fittest.

I've stocked up on things and I'm preparing to purchase my first firearm.

And, for th every first time in my life I am resolute to the fact that if push came to shove and I has somebody in the crosshairs who I felt was truly deserving, who was preparing to take away the life, or the way of life of my family and friends, I would have no difficulty at all pulling the trigger.

I will continue to be giving, fair, as honest and as peaceful as possible.

But, cross me in any way that infringes on those closest to me and I will lay waste.

That, quite frankly, is a pretty good indicator of how I am feeling about all of this upheaval, trial and tribulation.

reply to post by Trayen11


Obama/Biden my bad even if american i should have left that out. You asked the question and i answered as i sit here safe today. I HOPE i would not do this but imagine my wife yelling from another room regarding my 20 month old "she's going into a seizure, she's dying, her eyes are rolling back in her head, do something" I run in and see it. My neighbor has what i need. I go over there and he says "sorry i cant help you" and slams the door. I'm am guessing at my reaction but i think i know myself. Sorry, i feel i should apolagize for myself in this situation but..."it is what it is"

reply to post by spy66

If I understood the topic, it wasn't about "troubled times," or "difficult times," but rather WSHF type trouble where there isn't much of anything available.

My earlier post was just meant to get one to think.

If the SHTF, you'll see family members, neighbors and friends band together for a number of mutually beneficial reasons.

And talk about wild animals? In months, wild animals, unculled, will be a threat. The two-legged kind will be an immediate threat.

That's the thing about predators. Only other predators have a chance.

reply to post by anotherdad



You dont have to apologise for your view my friend. They are yours and you have a right to them. The senario you gave is an interesting one and hard to decide what you would do. The human race is destructive by nature, We are animals after all and when we eventually get back to that primal way of life when there are no rules and noone to answer to, it will not be hard to imagine the mere number of deaths of people being killed for what they have that others want.

For myself only I would not kill another person in cold blood. I have been trained in a variety of survival techniques. From growing of crops to hunting (i have to thank my dad for dragging me to all that stuff that i thought was crap when i was a teenager, but i thank him daily now)

IF, and i stress IF, the SHTF then I am secure in my knowledge of knowing My family and myself are self suffecient enough to make it through hard times. We have place out in the country with good earth for growing and plenty of wildlife to feed my family.

This is all about the circumstances though isn't it? Your focus and reactions are going to be in direct relation to where you find yourself, and what priorities you have.

The question is far too general.

The answer is, yes I could kill another human if I had to. But that's the catch, IF I had to. If I had to to another person because they were trying to kill me or my children? Then yes of course I would.

Would I kill someone walking down the street on a normal day? Not a chance.

So to defend myself or my children, would I be reduced to my base-level instincts? Probably yes. Would I regret taking someone else's life? I'd like to think I would, especially if it was someone I knew. However, would I regret taking their life if it had saved my children's lives? That would be hard to answer. Perhaps regret that it had to happen that way.

When it comes to starvation, then I would no doubt become quite viscious if I had to procure food for my children. For myself alone? It's debatable. I'd like to think I would offer to share what meagre rations I had if it was truly needed. If there were other children, I would expect to be able to pool all the resources available for all the children.

No I would not want to fight the father of three hungry children who was only trying to feed his own, but in that situation, if you cannot get to an understanding before violence errupts, you do what you have to in the moment, and then you make sure that None of the children suffer needlessly.

In my opinion, every single human has the capacity for violence but there will be different triggers for each person.

[edit on 11/18/2008 by azurecara]