In order for you to prepare for potential futures you might face, you need to be able to imagine yourself in that future. I am not sure most of us could let our imaginations go quite that far.

Fiction might push you a lot further down that road of imagination than you intended. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road took my breath away. The stark dialogue between father and son and the stark choices they made to survive their reality make so much of what we do seem irrelevant. Yet, the love and devotion shines even in this context as the child learns to be “one of the good guys,” the ones “carrying the fire.”

Reviews

• “Apocalypse Now,” Washington Post, October 1, 2006.
• “The Road through Hell, Paved with Desperation,” New York Times, September 25, 2006.
• “This is the End,” Pop Matters, September 18, 2006.
• “End of the Line,” Village Voice, August 31, 2006.

There is so much to know when you are anticipating living without modern conveniences for 72-hours, let alone living as our ancestors did two centuries or more ago. Even creating a simple kit can be overwhelming–and expensive. Breaking it all down into smaller steps will make it much easier to tackle this big task.
If you know what you are doing, you can start with a narrative giving advice on setting your own weekly preparedness goals for the year. If, like me, you don’t really know where to start, it helps to see a numbered list with 52 neat lines with specific, measurable goals, each with minimal cost.

• Be Ready Utah has provided an Excel spreadsheet with clear weekly goals.
• You can find the weekly preparedness goals viewable online on the South Jordan City website, thanks to my hometown.

Take a taste of the first 10 weeks.

1. Check the batteries in your smoke detectors.
2. Place a flashlight next to your bed and one in an alternate location. Make sure the batteries work in both flashlights and replace if necessary.
3. Obtain a suitable 72-hr. kit container. This may be a backpack, a large plastic garbage can with lid, or any other contain which will hold the items you need. It is important to remember that after a natural disaster there are typically three conditions under which people must live. Remember to put the container(s) in an area that is easily accessible such as your front hall closet-not in the basement.
4. Add 1 ½ gallons of water per person to your 72-hour kit.
5. Add $10 cash to your 72-hour kit. It is necessary to have at leaste $100 cash in your 72-hour kit. Since many of us do not have that kind of cash readily available, we will be adding $10 at a time ten times throughout the year.
6. Add a can opener to your 72-hour kit. This should be a hand operated opener which most people have in their kitchens, but rarely use. Move the one in your kitchen drawer to your kit. (You can always get it out of your kit to use in the event of a power outage.)
7. Add 2 cans of tuna fish or other canned meat per person to your 72-hour kit. Be sure to write the purchase date on the can for easy rotation.
8. Add 1 large bar of soap to your 72-hour kit.
9. Add $10 to your 72-hour kit.
10. Add 1 large roll paper towels to your 72-hour kit.

That’s not too bad, is it. At least if you start with a readymade goal list, you can adjust to your own needs.