A sobering lesson from history, hidden in my garage.

There is a lesson from history sitting in my garage.

The photo below is of a 300 year old "treasure chest" that I have stored away in our garage. It's seasoned, , old, authentically distressed, worn, dusty and largely forgotten by our household except for the odd occasion when we are in need of spare linens or blankets.

I came to it by way of my uncle who inherited it from my Grandmother who bought while antiquing in the German countryside...

More on that later...

And no, there isn't any treasure in it... At least not since I've had it.

Anyhow...

Here is the Lesson

Before WWII broke out the social elite and city dwellers of Western Europe were living life very comfortably. With ready access to fresh food and vegetables, clean water and civilized creature comforts, (not unlike the many conveniences that we similarly enjoy today...)

When the war hit, resources started to become more and more scarce.

When open war was at the doorsteps of the people in the cities, supply chains were cut and resources began to dry up.

The now besieged city dwellers faced a new kind of challenge. One that the comfortable trappings of civilization they were accustom to, had in all likelihood left them ill prepared to meet... This challenge came in the form of a very basic and primal question."How do we get food at a time when there is no food to be had within the confines of the cities?".

"How do we get food at a time when there is no food to be had within the confines of the cities?".

So what did they do? They took commodities like gold and silver, personal valued items like jewelry, art and antiques and went to the countryside to barter with farmers using those priceless objects as currency in trade for hand-fulls of food to keep them going...

This chest is literally one of those artifacts that was traded by someone fleeing, in a fight for their very lives, desperately searching for food, shelter and safety.

The lesson in my garage is about survival

If you are dismissing this event as just another thing. Please rethink your attitude.

If it isn't already, get your house in order. Stock up on dry goods, basic medical, sanitation items and 1st Aid materials along with a supply of fuel like propane to power a camp stove at minimum. By the way... Toilet paper is way down on the list of critical survival materials. Food, Water, Shelter, those are the things you need to keep going.

Especially if you have people that depend on you.

My grandma bought this chest from a farmer in a village outside of Cologne Germany maybe a dozen years after the war. She said that the farmer's barn was filled with hundreds of similar artifacts and objects, all obtained in the same manner.

For a morsel of food...

I'd bet that each item piled there had followed a similar sequence of events that led them to that very same barn and others like it around the country.

So what's real?

None of your material possessions amount to anything if you don't have the basic means to survive.

Prepare for the worst... Hope for the best.

Plan now.

Don't horde, however you should take an inventory and ask yourself, can we live on what we have if the unthinkable should happen?

If the answer is no...

You probably need to shore up your resources at a time when you still have the resources, options and opportunities available to do so.

Take care, wishing you safety, health and prosperity.

Michael

#perseverance