I have lived on a Kibbutz and on Amish-style self-sufficient Community farms in Africa. I have lived in the bush with the AfricanVillagers. I learnt many things there but the secret was -
Just Do It.
for example
- How do you pluck a chicken - you watch someone and do the same - many times - until you can do it without any thought.
- How do you kill a bull - ask some one who has done it before.
- How do you butcher it - Start by removing the skin and then cut out all the muscles one by one. Meat cuts vary from country to country [in my case I invented my own method]. The meat was still delicious even it the steaks were a weird shape
- How to prepare for the fuel famine? Simply go to the third world as a volunteer and they will teach you all you wish to know about survival.
The Americans have the Peace Corps and the British have Vountary Service Overseas.
However the boot is on the other foot - instead of the Empire Civilising the world - The Third World will now teach us Survival.
Do not imagine for a moment that money has anything to do with this. Life skills are caught not bought and constant practice is the rule for any worthwhile skill. This applies to making shoes as well as well as making ropes to use as harness.
I have seen some odd things in Africa. The daftest was an American lecturer telling his class of village elders how to prepare wholesome food for the freezer. They were too polite to tell him that Microwave ovens and Freezers dont exist in the their Electric free world of mud huts and grass roofs.
The following day he had his broken tractor hauled into the garage - with a couple of their oxen!
I would like to see every school leaver spend a few months in the third world just learning how to make things from scratch. Weaving baskets to lighting fires without matches - anything.
I spent a very pleasant few hours watching a chap dismantling clapped out car batteries,finding
the decent plates and rebuilding them again, pouring tar and lead into the joints.
I would like to see school children visit the elderly in the residential homes doing project work and ask questions of how they did things in the old days - so at least they will know making personal records of it and having their misconceptions squashed by common sense.
The project work could begin with Google to get the basic knowledge and then the correct questions could be asked. This sort of Data Mining of the Pensioners would form a link with the world that they were born to with the world that is very shortly to come.
Did the Victorians invent sqeamishness I wonder, and was it the beginning of Political Correctness. The next world will require toughness, willingness, and co-operation.
Work to Eat. The welfare state is sponsored by the Oil Derrick
