By Tim Gamble
All my links: https://linktr.ee/timgamble
Community - it is a hot topic on many survivalist-type forums. Many preppers, survivalists, conservatives, and religious folks are looking to form communities to foster their prospects for long-term survival. This may mean building an intentional community from scratch, or simply creating a community of like-minded friends and neighbors for mutual assistance.
Community building is a great idea. However, there is still resistance to the idea of community by those folks who seem to favor the lone-wolf or isolated family-retreat modes of survival. In this article, I want to explain why I think forming or creating a larger community is the better path to survival.
The first reason is that humans are social creatures. We are designed (by God or by evolution, depending on your worldview) to need interaction with other people. This is why solitary confinement is considered such a severe form of punishment. We suffer mentally and emotionally when we are cut off from other people. Loneliness, depression, and mental illness will result from long periods of isolation, whether as individuals or even in very small groups.
The first reason is that humans are social creatures. We are designed (by God or by evolution, depending on your worldview) to need interaction with other people. This is why solitary confinement is considered such a severe form of punishment. We suffer mentally and emotionally when we are cut off from other people. Loneliness, depression, and mental illness will result from long periods of isolation, whether as individuals or even in very small groups.
As proof of this, just look to the lockdowns and isolation of the Covid plandemic. Even mainstream sources and experts talk about the loneliness, depression, mental problems and sharply increased suicides that resulted. Many of us, including me, may fantasize about leading the life of a Grizzly Adams hermit. But if we actually adopted such a life, most of us would quickly find it to be torture. We need other people, whether or not we want to admit it.
The second reason is the reality of physical limitations. We get tired. We get sleepy. We can typically only do one task at a time. Some tasks actually require more than one person, or even several people. And there are time factors to consider. Security, for instance, will require your full attention. You are not going to be able to pull security duty AND work in the garden or do other chores at the same time. You are not going to be able to pull 12-hour security shifts for any length of time. Try to do so, and you will become tired, distracted and ineffective. And there are some tasks you will never be able to do alone.
The third reason is limited skill sets. A truly self-reliant group will need a large variety of skill sets. Yet, we all have a limited number of skills as individuals. In worst case scenarios, there will be no outside help of any kind - no fire departments, EMTs, police departments, hospitals, grocery stores, pharmacies, Amazon-delivery, pizza-delivery, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, or repairmen of any kind, except for that which we have within our community. We will have to provide for all our needs ourselves. Of course, we should all work towards becoming as self-reliant as possible as individuals, but no one person, no even one family, will ever be able to truly do it all.
The fourth reason is safety in numbers. The idea many of us have is that a family in an isolated rural area will survive by hiding. But reality tells us something different. Fernando Aguirre, in his book The Modern Survival Manual, writes about what actually happened during the economic collapse in Argentina during the early 2000s. Far from being safe, those small isolated farms were actually hunted down and targeted by well-armed gangs. This experience has been mirrored in other historical, real world examples, such as during the Bosnia War in the 1990s. A small retreat with only two or three adults to provide security will be an extremely tempting and easy target for large, well armed groups during a collapse in the USA. No, I wouldn't want to live in a large urban center, but small retreats aren't 100% safe either.
The second reason is the reality of physical limitations. We get tired. We get sleepy. We can typically only do one task at a time. Some tasks actually require more than one person, or even several people. And there are time factors to consider. Security, for instance, will require your full attention. You are not going to be able to pull security duty AND work in the garden or do other chores at the same time. You are not going to be able to pull 12-hour security shifts for any length of time. Try to do so, and you will become tired, distracted and ineffective. And there are some tasks you will never be able to do alone.
The third reason is limited skill sets. A truly self-reliant group will need a large variety of skill sets. Yet, we all have a limited number of skills as individuals. In worst case scenarios, there will be no outside help of any kind - no fire departments, EMTs, police departments, hospitals, grocery stores, pharmacies, Amazon-delivery, pizza-delivery, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, or repairmen of any kind, except for that which we have within our community. We will have to provide for all our needs ourselves. Of course, we should all work towards becoming as self-reliant as possible as individuals, but no one person, no even one family, will ever be able to truly do it all.
The fourth reason is safety in numbers. The idea many of us have is that a family in an isolated rural area will survive by hiding. But reality tells us something different. Fernando Aguirre, in his book The Modern Survival Manual, writes about what actually happened during the economic collapse in Argentina during the early 2000s. Far from being safe, those small isolated farms were actually hunted down and targeted by well-armed gangs. This experience has been mirrored in other historical, real world examples, such as during the Bosnia War in the 1990s. A small retreat with only two or three adults to provide security will be an extremely tempting and easy target for large, well armed groups during a collapse in the USA. No, I wouldn't want to live in a large urban center, but small retreats aren't 100% safe either.
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