The Single Best Prep: Learn History
We all make mistakes. We’re only human, after all. If there’s any benefit to making a mistake, it’s that you learn from it. Mistakes, failures, and poor decisions are learning experiences that ultimately make us wiser. However, there are limits to the number of experiences we can have. We certainly can’t learn everything. This is why it’s so important to augment our experiences with historical accounts. Many of us have read about blunders committed throughout history. The Chernobyl nuclear meltdown taught us just how deadly nuclear radiation can be. Poor banking regulations led to the last financial crisis. These disasters, though, made our power plants and financial markets safer. There is no doubt that these mistakes were costly, but we learned from them and implemented change. If we truly want to be prepared for whatever life throws at us, we need to forever remain students. Below I detail three reasons why it’s so important for preppers to learn history.
1. To Avoid Repeating Our Mistakes, We Need to Learn What They Were and What Caused Them.
There is no value in mistakes or failures if you don’t learn from them. Yes, mistakes can be wounding. Wounds can scar, but scars can callus and calluses make you tougher. Similarly, our nation grows tougher, stronger, and more efficient as we learn from the past. That said, if we don’t know or understand mistakes made in the past, we’re bound to repeat them. As kids, we’re required to take history classes in school. Unfortunately, many people stop studying history after they’ve graduated. Learning history should be a life long activity. The more we know about the past, the better our future can be.
2. In a Post-Apocalyptic World, We’ll Need to Live Like Our Ancestors.
If sh*t really does hit the fan, we’ll be without the various luxuries we take for granted today. What would we do without phones, cars, or electricity. How would we live? Ultimately, how would we rebuild society? We live relatively comfortable lives today due to the sacrifices of those before us. They built an incredible foundation upon which our world rests today. Moreover, they documented how that foundation was built. We have millions of pages published by inventors throughout history. These publications can teach us how to return to prosperity should SHTF. They can remind us how people lived before the advent of the internet. History doesn’t just help to inform us how to create a better future. It can also save us if we need to live like our ancestors did in the past.
3. Some Events are Cyclical. We Can Be Prepared For Them.
Most of us know that the financial markets are cyclical. Booms are followed by busts, which are again followed by booms. We understand that there will be future recessions, which enables us to prepare for the next one. The best way to prepare is by learning about recessions that occurred throughout our history. What caused them? What ended them? How did people get through them? If we have answers to these questions, we’ll be more capable of persevering through the next recession.
Governments are also cyclical. Our 44th president is a Republican. The 43rd was a Democrat. The 42nd was a Republican, and so on. Peace is often followed by war, which again is followed by peace. Knowing the cyclical nature of events can help inform how we respond. We should therefore make every effort to learn history. It’s the best way to prepare.
Do you have thoughts about the value of learning history? Leave a comment below or contact me directly.
