Illustration by Milo Winter (1886-1956)

Will your children be refrigerators on legs?

The phrase refers to those that do not take their survival seriously. Thus, in the times when civilizations collapse, the unprepared get eaten–either by the situation or by others.

It is sad, but true…

…And we have yet to devise a pill that cures humanity of the bad shit disease.

Aesop was a Greek writer credited with many of the children’s fables most of us grew up on. In his fables, anthropomorphized animals and insects act out parables. One of his stories in particular is very popular amongst preppers: The Ant and the Grasshopper.

The ants were spending a fine winter’s day drying grain collected in the summertime. A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food. The Ants inquired of him, “Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?’ He replied, “I had not leisure enough. I passed the days in singing.” They then said in derision: “If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.”

That was the Townsend version–one of the two most popular. Unfortunately, no originals of Aesop’s works remain.

It’s rumored that an older version ends with the Ant(s) eating the Grasshopper. Given how children’s fables are now “revised” so as not to “frighten” children, I tend to buy that the Grasshopper was eaten in the original. It’s also what actually does happen in nature where there are no politicians to garner votes with slogans like “Thanks not fair. The Ant must share!” or “Go Green. Don’t eat Green!”

In the simplest terms, the story means ‘prepare’–hard times are always just around the bend.

The other piece not often talked about is that you can’t wait till you see hard times to prepare. It’s too late.

I’m not telling or hinting that we are in the autumn of our current glorious civilization. I don’t have a crystal ball. For that matter, I stopped concerning myself with things I can’t predict some time ago.

What I do know is that shit happens. Whether personal, regionally, nationally, or globally bad things do take place. If we let go of our most basic instinct of self-preservation (taking care of ourselves and duty to loved ones) are we men at all?

In newer revised versions of the parable the Ant takes pity on the Grasshopper and invites him in for less seemingly nefarious purposes (I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in nature).

But we are human after all. And one of the great things about us is that we overcome our basic instincts and take care of those that do not ensure their own future…

Or do we?