Am I a sheep?

This article came from www.washingtonpost.com . I saved it and have it pinned to my bulletin board in my office. It was filed by the Associated Press on Friday, July 8, 2005 at 9:30AM.

450 Sheep Jump to Their Deaths in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey - First one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish sheperds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff, Turkish media reported.

In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Askam reported.

"There's nothing we can do. They're all wasted," Nevzat Bayham, a member of one of 26 families whose sheep were gazing together in the herd, was quoted as saying by Aksam.

The estimated loss to families in the town of Gevas, located in Van province in eastern Turkey, tops $100,000, a significant amount of money in a country where average GDP per head is around $2,700.

"Every family had an average of 20 sheep," Aksam quoted another villager, Abdullah Hazar as saying. "But now only a few families have sheep left. It's going to be hard for us."

Folks, Bill and I encourage each of you to not act like a sheep and follow the herd mentality that the government or mainstream media would have us follow. Take this time, NOW, to seperate yourselves from the herd of sheep in this country that have no savings, that have less that 30 days food on hand, that have a huge amount of debt, that do not know how to spend a few days in the wilderness and survive, and start preparing for a potential economic hard time in your lives. We do not know what will happen to any of us in our day-to-day lives. But we do know that if we are prepared WE WILL NOT FEAR. Let those who are unprepared fear the famine, loss of home, broken family, loss of job, etc., that could sneak up on any of us. I will not fear because I am prepared!!!

My preparedness is continuous, as yours should be. It never stops and it never will. I store long-term food and short-term food. I look for and purchase self defense weapons. I put cash aside. I keep my debts as low as possible. I am constantly building my first aid and medical equipment supplies. I have a 72-hour bug out bag ready - just in case I have to bug out. I have a generator. I am constantly learning how I could survive in the woods, with nothing, if I have to. You get the idea!

It is hard telling if I will ever have to use any of the preparedness items I have put aside but if hard times come to me and my family I hope that I am prepared enough to survive through it and not have to wait in some unseemly line, like the rest of the sheep that did not prepare, for a handout from the government.