# Would You Want to Survive?



## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

Clearly you would, since you're a prepper, but do you foresee a scenario where survival wouldn't be worth the bother? I watched The Road the other night and the wife gave up, leaving her child and husband to fend for themselves. He kept two bullets, all he had left, to kill them both if it came to it. He almost used it on his son. That right there is the stuff of nightmares and a whole 'nother issue, how could you decide it was bad enough to take their lives to spare them more misery? 

I rate the priority of my own survival only so much as it is necessary for my children: I could never leave them alone in a SHTF situation, but I can relate to the mother also. As long as my children were alive, I could never give up, but if things were that terrible and my children were gone, I don't know that I would want to keep fighting.

In a world with little hope of improvement, would you get to the point where you'd rather take the easy way out?


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## ekim (Dec 28, 2012)

If things got that bad, I would like to think I would take as many as possible with me as I died, hopefully those that caused the problem to start with!


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

No - If God spared my life through a shit storm, there is a reason. I will not derail that reason even if it means some discomfort in the meantime.


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## Arizona Infidel (Oct 5, 2013)

I think I watched that movie. It was fairly good. Wasn't their an underlying health problem with the wife? Or was it just mental weakness? 
Personally I would want to survive and would do anything I had to do, but I don't fear dying, so if I did I would be at peace with it.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Some of us are wired differently than others. That is just a fact of life, while giving up may cross our minds it is just not in the DNA .
Some will . The easy way out is just what many are doing now pretending there is no problem.
Our fate is in the hands of God. The only thing that would cause me to give up would be a loss of faith. just don't see that happening.


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## dannydefense (Oct 9, 2013)

I have always believed that taking your own life is the easy way out. It's option B when you come to a fork in the road and option A looks too difficult or extreme. If we're here for nothing else, we're here to see how far we can go, and what we can accomplish along the way regardless of the problems we encounter. I would keep pushing. I would ask others with me to do nothing less, and to push me to do nothing less.


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

I didn't catch a health condition; I think she just didn't want to live any more.



Arizona Infidel said:


> I think I watched that movie. It was fairly good. Wasn't their an underlying health problem with the wife? Or was it just mental weakness?
> Personally I would want to survive and would do anything I had to do, but I don't fear dying, so if I did I would be at peace with it.


I know that as long as my kids were alive, I would fight with everything I had to keep them whole. If they're gone, however, I imagine it would be a failure on my part to protect them. Facing that, I don't think I'd want to live. Being an eternal optimist though, I think in the moment I would keep on believing that things would get better with just a little more time.

I'm really not a TV watcher, but lately I've been soaking up relevant movies. Last night, it was The Pianist and at one point, there is a sobbing mother who smothered her infant to death trying to quiet its cries when they were in hiding to avoid being rounded up. In that case, I think it probably ended better for the baby than it would have otherwise.

These are unpleasant things to think about but I think they tie in well to the mental preparedness thread from a few days ago. We have to contemplate the difficult decisions now so we're not caught totally unaware later.


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## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

I do not see myself giving up, but if my family was lost to some looters, gangs, or anyone else, I think I would become a very dangerous individual. As I would be living for revenge with nothing to loose.


That is a factor that I never heard talked about, that any group that plans on taking from others, they may just end up with a lot of lone wolves sniping at them where ever they go making life hell.


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

The hubs and I were just talking about it and yeah, I can see living for revenge. People who have lost everything are the most dangerous. Enough of them together would be devastating to whoever caused the harm. I just hope we don't have to let it get that far before we act.


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## Titan6 (May 19, 2013)

Fight until the end..Never stop, Never quit..I would go the distance....


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## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

My kids are adults, at least in age, now and I do now have a granddaughter who is a toddler. Every fiber of my existence is wired to get them all through whatever situation may come. It's kind of like "the mission". It isn't over until we all get home and no one quits until then.


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

I'll be honest in saying you never know. If I was badly hurt to the point of losing limbs or other body damage, I might not want that life to come after healing and simply prefer to die. I don't have anyone in my life I feel about this way right now, but if I did and lost someone so close to me my heart simply couldn't bear it, I might choose to follow them, whether by unnatural or natural causes. By natural causes actually happens all the time. An old couple can have one of the two die and the other simply misses them so much the body becomes so weakened under increased strain and stress from the loss they follow shortly after. I'm a fighter, but I'm not going to bullshit and say that there isn't any point I may not want to live anymore.


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

rickkyw1720pf said:


> I do not see myself giving up, but if my family was lost to some looters, gangs, or anyone else, I think I would become a very dangerous individual. As I would be living for revenge with nothing to loose.
> 
> That is a factor that I never heard talked about, that any group that plans on taking from others, they may just end up with a lot of lone wolves sniping at them where ever they go making life hell.


I could see becoming that way myself. I'd want to kill them all, whether I lived or not.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

There is a point in each of us where it will be more difficult to go on living than to just give up. I am not sure where my point is but I do know that I have lived through great pain and suffering and it is better now. I would use that to prevent a "permanent" solution to a "temporary" problem. 

Most people do not understand what severe pain is and suffering that makes you look at life and wonder if it is worth going on can do to you. I am fortunate and I lived through it because I know that I am loved. Quitting just transfers your personal suffering to those who are left behind. We are each here for a reason and a time. I will choose to live (even though I have experienced death) until I simply cannot due to my body failing or someone taking it from me.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

indie said:


> Clearly you would, since you're a prepper, but do you foresee a scenario where survival wouldn't be worth the bother? I watched The Road the other night and the wife gave up, leaving her child and husband to fend for themselves. He kept two bullets, all he had left, to kill them both if it came to it. He almost used it on his son. That right there is the stuff of nightmares and a whole 'nother issue, how could you decide it was bad enough to take their lives to spare them more misery?
> 
> I rate the priority of my own survival only so much as it is necessary for my children: I could never leave them alone in a SHTF situation, but I can relate to the mother also. As long as my children were alive, I could never give up, but if things were that terrible and my children were gone, I don't know that I would want to keep fighting.
> 
> In a world with little hope of improvement, would you get to the point where you'd rather take the easy way out?


I see what you mean....but I can't take my own life. It's due to religious belief. But losing the will to live will perhaps hasten it.

My aunt was battling cancer when she lost her husband. They've been married for a long time. Barely a year later, she died. When her kids were cleaning out her stuff....they found cancer medicines stashed underneath her clothes. 
She just stopped taking them.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

My job is to protect my wife. She is still naive and trusting at our age. You would think she would have learned better by now. She is my best friend. If anything happens to her, I can't say what I will do but checking out the easy way is not an option. If it's meant for us to go early, I just hope we go together. I will protect her to the end to the best of my ability.


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## Meangreen (Dec 6, 2012)

:lol:I could never commit suicide because how could the rest of you go on? Who would the men idealize and the women swoon over? The kids wouldn’t believe in super heroes anymore. I owe the world me and I couldn’t be selfish and commit suicide.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Meangreen said:


> :lol:I could never commit suicide because how could the rest of you go on? Who would the men idealize and the women swoon over? The kids wouldn't believe in super heroes anymore. I owe the world me and I couldn't be selfish and commit suicide.


You joke but there are people out there who do look up to you and it would hurt them if you did commit suicide.


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## dannydefense (Oct 9, 2013)

PaulS said:


> You joke but there are people out there who do look up to you and it would hurt them if you did commit suicide.


There were. Until he admitted to owning a Prius.


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

Am I a burden on my family? That would be the big question for me. If I'm not capable of contributing, the answer becomes easier.


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## Meangreen (Dec 6, 2012)

dannydefense said:


> There were. Until he admitted to owning a Prius.


O that hurt!


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

PaulS said:


> You joke but there are people out there who do look up to you and it would hurt them if you did commit suicide.


Shit, now he's gonna get the big head.


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## Meangreen (Dec 6, 2012)

PaulS said:


> You joke but there are people out there who do look up to you and it would hurt them if you did commit suicide.


I wouldn't do that to my wife and kids plus I wanna see what happens next! Thanks Pauls for saying that!


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## sargedog (Nov 12, 2012)

I too do not believe in suicide, I have had some issues where I have died twice. The latest is the worst, but I am WAY to hard headed to give up if you don't believe me ask my wife.lol I feel it is my personal obligation to care for my family until my dying breath. If they have gone then I will make everyone that tries to do me/us wrong. I know if they are gone from this earth they are in heaven waiting for me. So in reality it's a win either way. The older I get the more I know I have less time in this world and I am a fighter to survive.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Can't always control the cards that are dealt, but I can determine how I'll play the hand. Suicide isn't an option. There's always another plan that needs to be tried.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

You're going to have to kill me... period. I'm far too stubborn to ever give up.

Even if you do manage to kill me, I'm gonna try my hardest to come back and haunt your ass.


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## 1skrewsloose (Jun 3, 2013)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for thou art with me. I truly believe this.


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

I'm so sorry. It's a pain that never really leaves, but the living ones sure go a long way toward healing it. Congratulations on your two girls.


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## longrider (Mar 25, 2013)

I would keep fighting until I couldn't. I don't really believe in revenge, as it seems to come back on you in another way. 

That being said, I've often told my son that if I start to lose my cognition, alzheimers/dementia, he's to take us "camping" and while he's fishing, I will walk away and keep walking until I can't go any further. We need to come up with a story, to cover him. But I won't be a burden on him or his family. Same goes, in SHTF scenario. If I develope dementia or alzheimers, send me to the store for a loaf of bread. What happens happens. If I'm lucky, I'll die of exposure in the winter.

But even a senior can give great advice, tips for living, information and knowledge, even if they can't hold a gun anymore. When my usefulness is gone, so am I.


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## jesstheshow (Nov 18, 2013)

I have babies, as long as they needed me, I would be here... If something happened to them, I don't know what I would do. If something happened to them, and not my husband, I would stay with him and help him. I guess as long as I am needed, I would stay through whatever I had to. I love them and I will do anything and everything to make sure they were taken care of. Can't take care of them if I'm not here.


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## jesstheshow (Nov 18, 2013)

suicide resonates deeply with me, because of things that have happened in my life. Every situation is different, though.


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## retired guard (Mar 7, 2013)

I had a situation once where a friend asked me if I was considering suicide. I told him "I'm begging for his help I've even begged him to kill me if it makes it better for those left behind but I cannot usurp his prerogative!" He answered the prayer the situation resolved and I'm still here. Once again and I am sure not for the last time I owe him all!


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