Note of Introduction:

Since 9-11-2001 we have received some more than usual e-mail and phone calls from people wanting to leave the cities and move to a more peaceful, safe, secure, sane and more rural area. We have always catered to those who want to escape the cities and move to the country. Our Delaware Beach Areas are rural havens.

There are many folks, entire families that seek to be more independent, more self sufficient, more prepared, like families and people were years ago in rural areas. Many years ago, in the 1970's I did some national real estate. I helped folks who wanted to find a utopian place to live and keep themselves and their families more safe. These folks at the time were called Survivalists -- a name that came to be redefined by our press as a label to put on people considered dangerous and crazy. That is not the sort of person I met or helped to find better places to live.

Recently, I came across this article and asked the author, Chris Lourie, permission to place it on my web sites as an essay by one of these "Survivalists". Perhaps you are one too, or want to be. All of my family, neighbors and friends were consummate survivalists, until a few decades ago -- it was just considered normal then. Please feel free to write Chris or myself if you would like to discuss anything you read here.

If you would like to move to a place that I consider to be the most practical and pleasant place in America, to be self sufficient and live a safe, sane, secure lifestyle -- please write me and I will do my best to help you change your life and future for the best -- here in Lower, Slower, Safer, Sussex County, Delaware.

Jody Hudson MrJodyHudson@earthlink.net

Now for Chris' Essay:

"WHAT IS A SURVIVALIST"
copyright 2001 by Chris Lourie
9pearls@watervalley.net

There is always one in every family. The one that gets pointed out as weird
or crazy or paranoid during family gatherings. I am the one in my family. I
am always trying to remind family members to buy extra food or even a first
aid kit. Essentials that most modern people don't think they need. In this
essay I seek to give some clarification to the survivalist archetype.

I think survivalists are a number of things, historians, craftsmen,
scholars, creators and outdoorsmen. They have a number of "hobbies" which
revolve around one essential point. To survive through circumstances that
come with living on a planet with nature's unpredictable forces. We know
through out history that nature's forces have determined whether or not
civilizations have thrived or perished. The antithesis for a survivalist is
to perish. To Perish means: to ruin, to deteriorate, to be wiped out or die
an untimely death. So to start a survivalist is one who doesn't want to
perish. He is a fighter but also an adapter who seeks harmony through being
prepared.
A survivalist wants to chose the time of his dying, Not be a victim to the
harsh changes of the world.

Through out history, humans had to be survivalists it determined whether you
lived or died. Prehistoric man and woman developed tools from rocks and
plants, to grow into a huge thriving metropolis we are today. Somewhere
along the line, survivalists came to be frowned upon. In America pioneers
also had to be survivalists. Pioneers exchanged and stole much from the
indigenous peoples of this country. Who were also survivalists. In the
modern age humans created a surplus of seemingly unending comfort. This
illusion has rendered the survivalist obsolete and made human survival a
weird "hobby".

As nature continues to show its power. We now have added to our predicament;
nuclear energy, weapons and terrorists which challenge our existence on this
earth. The survivalist still has a place. Time and time again lessons are
learned; a car accident in winter just far enough from help, A recreational
camping trip, a boat ride. Small lessons which teaches us who is really in
control. They humble us they make us understand the hierarchy of life. The
ones who heed these lessons are survivalists cause they know our comforts
are temporary. There Is a complacent part of humanity that become dependent
on the comforts. A lot of people never leave the shelter of a city or large
human inhabitance. They miss out on knowing "true life" on being part of
Nature. They never really know the importance of life, the importance of
clean water, a good shelter, storing food for the winter and medical
knowledge. The importance of a good tool like a knife.

Weapons..........we have seen this as the biggest separation of civilized
people who are depended on others for their food and protection. They have
cast their judgment on survivalists. They see survivalists as stockpiling
weapons for some future war and slaughtering game senselessly. The
survivalists see the "civilized" urban as hypocritical with their store
bought meat that was systematically slaughtered and packaged like a plastic
doll and their leather garments all coldly detached from the harsh reality
of it all. This seems to be the biggest gulf which separates the survivalist
from others in society. Weapons Unfortunately are the means through which we
created this civilization out of. They have also protected us from countless
challenges to our existence. They kill our animals and make clothing, they
prepare our food. They protect us from our human enemies. They also cut wood
for shelter. Living closer to nature makes humans dependent on weapons. This
is a simple fact and one needs only to live closer to nature to see this.

My challenge to Those who judge those who carry weapons. Plan a week trip
in the woods away from an urban center without any knife or gun, do not
bring a weeks supply of food or your cell phone, walk about 30 miles into
the forest and simply exist. I think after that, even the staunchest critics
will come out with some empathy for the survivalist.

I also see the survivalist as a keeper of traditions. I feel it is extremely
important to keep alive the primitive skills that our ancestors depended
upon. These very advanced primitive skills include; Fire making, shelter
building, hunting/fishing, edible and medicinal plant foraging and making
clothing, tools. I am hardly a master of these skills but I am studying
them one by one. When I think back at our ancestors and I think of all the
knowledge they had to have to simply live it amazes me. They had to know:
which plants make anything from rope to medicine, which rocks makes sparks,
which can be sharpened, which can be used to break other rocks, which trees
are best for all their needs, the habits of animals, the weather, weaving
natural materials into clothing and tents. It truly is mind boggling
especially in juxtaposition with the specialized modern mind who barely can
cook with a microwave. Where typing is the only real skill one has, to earn
a living. Even after a little bit of study you have a hard time saying the
word "primitive", cause the level of skill involved is really beyond
anything modern man can comprehend.

Survivalism also enriches your life by giving you the abilities to know you
can create from just what is there in nature. What could be more empowering?
Though we would be hard pressed to become proficient in all these areas I do
think it is important to study and attempt as much as you can. I see this as
a requirement to the normal skills one needs in modern society.

Written by,
Chris Lourie