Each day as we are privy to increasing amounts of new News, on everything from the economic woes here in America, and the scattered and unfocused manner in which our Government seems to be trying to address them, or of the Geopolitical madness going on in countries like Egypt, Yemen, Jordan and almost every other Nation in the Middle East, not to mention the heavily reported economic collapses across the European Union, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by all this information, put your hands firmly against your ears and scream out "Is the World Going Mad?"

The fast answer to this heartfelt inner question is YES! The World, Our World, including Our great Nation, has indeed gone mad. And though we may not have reached the "point of no return" yet, many feel that we are so close to that point, that pulling back from it will be as difficult as keeping a coin tossed in the air from being pulled by gravity and crashing to the Earth. A certain inevitability!

Just take a look around. Turn on your favorite News program or read your favorite Administration Press Release, ( I mean National Newspaper! ), and no matter which way they may individually spin the information for their political agenda's benefit, the facts remain the same throughout. And it is the culmination of all of these facts, that if compiled and listed together, which is causing such an angst amongst those who see one after another of these drastic changes to the "fabric of humanity", the one thing which has kept mankind for the most part from each other's throats.

There are no greater incentives to bring a people to that ultimate and irreversable point of violence, than FEAR and HUNGER. These two simple human traits , ( coupled with their demonic cousins GREED and POWER ), are the root cause of most, if not all of the aggression and oppression throughout History, and that we are witnessing all across the world TODAY! Few other emotions have found such ease in driving Man to kill Man.

When you hear reports from abroad, of how whole populations have been trying to exist on one or two dollars a day, for years!, can you extrapolate that kind of existence to the American public, and imagine how WE would react to such abject poverty? While not the majority, there are enough within our population of 300 million, who even at our current levels of personal enrichment, finding it all too easy to attack each other over a mere pitance, killing each other here in America over nothing more than a few bucks or pair of high dollar shoes.

How elevated would these such occurrences become if our nation was to fall into such an economically challenged state of being. How long before someone is breaking into your home, willing to kill you and your family in order to steal your food supply of the few pieces of gold jewelry you have stored away in your underwear drawer? Am I scaring you? You should be scared!

Few people are ever proven so wrong, as those who profess grand absolute statements like, " OH That will never happen here! ". They are too often proven wrong, and these are usually the last words you hear, before the very thing that is being denied HAPPENS! And it is those who were blinded by their ignorance to the coming situation who suffer most, and either fall victim to, or see themselves become the aggressors of, the kind of violence that is most certainly to follow such economic and societal collapses.

So now you're probably asking yourself, and me, what is the point of all this? What am I really trying to say here? A fair and valid question, to which I say, I am talking about TRUST! Pure and simple Trust in Mankind, our Government and our Citizenry itself. Of which I have little!

I do not trust Government. Any Government! , for Governments fails and falls once the economic funding that keeps them alive is gone. I do not trust Mankind, for Mankind has proven over and over again that when the chips are down, the last thing it is, is KIND! And as for the citizenry itself, when I see daily reports of parents killing their children, or 89 year old women being mugged and beaten over a few checks, or of a small boy tormented by a gang of much larger and older boys, for entertainment!, I trust this portion least of all.

Maybe it is something Genetic, something from my upbringing here in the South, but for the most part, I trust Family and a few, and I mean only a "FEW", close friends exclusively. And I feel that it is this type of "Nucleus of TRUST" that will be needed if we are to ever survive what many see as a coming upheaval to all that we now know to be real and safe. Locate YOUR Nucleus!

All I am saying is to think ahead and prepare yourselves. I am not telling you to grab all you know and head to some compound - just to have a safe place in mind. I am not telling you to gather massive storage of foods and other critical supplies - but don't be shocked to see an extra case of water or box of Ramen noodles under my shopping cart at Walmart. I am also not telling you to go out and get an AK-47 - but have you ever tried to hunt or keep villains at bay with mere rocks?

It is the old Boy Scout in me who is talking to you today. And seeing all that I see, and noticing all of these clouds that continually align into what can only be a Perfect Storm of Uncertain and Dangerous Change, This old Boy Scout wants to say to all of you, JUST BE PREPARED! Nothing MORE! but - Nothing LESS! and to Remember, it is called Survival of the Fittest, not Survival of the Witless! Worst case scenario happens, and you have a shot at going on. And if We end up with a Best case scenario, well then, you've just got alot of Ramen laying around.





Russell is an Author, Inventor, Retired Comedian and Citizen Activist. Check out and stay updated to all of his other ARTICLES, his available BOOKS and INVENTIONS by visiting russellhebert.com and subscribing. Follow him on TWITTER @ hebert1218, E-mail Russell at hebert1218@aol.com or write him c/o this paper.