"It does not pay to leave a dragon
out of your calculations, if you live near him."
--H.R. Tolkien
Preparedness is Ongoing...
"I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance
on the part of every individual member and family. None of us knows
when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment may
affect any of us. ...The best place to have some food set aside is
within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best
welfare program is our own welfare program. Five or six cans of wheat
in the home are better than a bushel in the welfare granary.
"I do not predict any impending disaster. I hope that there will
not be one. But prudence should govern our lives. Everyone
who owns a home recognizes the need for fire insurance. We hope and
pray that there will never be a fire. Nevertheless, we pay for insurance
to cover such a catastrophe, should it occur. We ought to do the
same with reference to family welfare.
"We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with a one week's
food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months.
I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs. ...So many feel that
a long-term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no
effort at all.
"Begin in a small way, ...and gradually build toward a reasonable objective.
Save a little money regularly, and you will be surprised how it accumulates.
"Get out of debt and rid yourself of the terrible bondage that debt
brings...
"Discipline yourselves in matters of spending, in matters of borrowing,
in practices that lead to bankruptcy and the agony that comes therewith."
President Gordon B. Hinckley (President of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
