The
Film The Road as a Cautionary Tale
The film The Road based on
the book by the same title, is a very good cautionary tale illustrating why
it’s not good to get caught with your pants down with regards to preparedness.
As the film begins, the father,
played by Viggo Mortenson, knows something is wrong. When he begins filling up the bath tub, his
wife, played by Charlene Theron ask him something to the effect of “Why are you
taking a bath?” He wasn’t bathing. He was stockpiling water for drinking.
As you get further along in the
film, it becomes obvious that the wife is not going to make it. She does not have the psychological survival
skills to make it. She wants the pre-TEOTWAWKI world back and it's not coming back. Hence, the reason to prepare, so you can rebuild the world if it comes to that. The wife simply wonders off into the night and never returns.
After the wife is gone, the
father and the boy, forgive the terrible pun with relation to the title, hit
the road.
As someone who has been a student
of preparedness for more than two decades, a writer of a paid, print, subscription
preparedness newsletter for two years, and a blogger on the subject 2 to three
years now, I was floored, absolutely floored, by what I saw in this film. (Yes, I know it was just a movie, but what a lesson it teaches.)
Ever heard this? “For want of a nail......” In fact, the film could have been titled For
Want of a Nail. Or better yet For Want of a Bullet. Let me explain.
The father and the son faced many
dangers that could have been taken care of if they had just done only a little
bit of preparation. They were presented
with INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITIES they could have taken advantage of if they had
prepared.
Before we examine the dangers and
opportunities, I want to make some comments about the film.
I thought the film The Book of
Eli presented an accurate portrayal of what a post TEOTWAWKI would look
like. As good as that film was in
portraying TEOTWAWKI, the realism of what TEOTWAWKI would look like in The
Road was, in my opinion, a power of ten increase over The Book of Eli. (The Book of Eli was an awesome film!)
Dangers-If you ever want a reason
to get motivated about stockpiling ammunition for your firearms, just watch
this film. Before the wife walked out
into the night and never came back, there was a scene in which husband and wife
were talking. They talked about how the
raiders (for those of the Rawles school of preparedness this is the “golden
hoard) would come back and that they only had TWO BULLETS!!!! Does one have to go to school and take
special courses to be that stupid? In
addition, they only had a revolver!
Fast forward now to the scene
where the men on the truck were hunting.........humans. Yes, there is cannibalism in this film. In this scene the father and the boy head
into the woods to hide. One of the
members of the cannibal hunting party walks into the woods to urinate and
discovers the father and son. He states
that he thinks the father won’t shoot him.
The father deposits high velocity metal into the skull of said
hunter. Now the father has only one
bullet, and the other hunters are streaming out to find out what happened.
If you observe close, essentially
all of the hunters had scoped, bolt action rifles. If the father had only had a Ruger 10/22 with
a 25 round detachable magazine, he could have killed half of the hunters before
they even knew what was happening. But
when you only have a revolver with one bullet........
Opportunities-The father and son
had numerous opportunities they could have taken advantage of, if only they had
prepared. If they had say 300 standard
sized nails, 300 two inch screws, a hammer, screwdriver, and a small hand
saw, they could have had their choice of accommodations. In one scene, the father finds the house he
grew up in.
The items mentioned in the
previous paragraph could have been easily carried in the cart the father and
son carried their supplies in. With said items plus a Ruger 10/22, they could
have fortified the houses they walked up on.
(To be fair though, running a 24/7 LP/OP watch with only two people
could not be done for an extended period of time.)
With regards to missed
opportunities, it gets even worse.
When the father and the boy were
just about to drop from starvation, they find an underground shelter loaded
with food and supplies! (The owner(s) of
that underground shelter probably were dead-most likely because they bought
into the lie that firearms are not needed for survival.)
The father and the boy stay in
the shelter for a while, gain some weight with all the food there, and get much
needed rest. In additions, the father
gets to spend time with his son doing what fathers do in normal situations.
Then one day they hear people
walking on the surface. They have to
leave BECAUSE
YOU CANNOT DEFEND YOURSELF OR YOUR PLACE OF SAFETY WITH A REVOLVER THAT HAS
ONLY ONE BULLET!!!!!!!!!!!!
As bad as this was, it still gets
even worse.
In one part of the movie they run
up on what appears to be an empty house.
The basement/cellar is locked.
The father opens it. He discovers
a group of people being held prisoner, chained and naked, to be eaten by, you
guessed it, more cannibals. Just as the
father gets back to the main floor, the cannibals return. Father and son hide upstairs and discover the
area where the prisoners were butchered to be eaten. Just as father and son are about to be
discovered, the prisoners start coming out of the basement/cellar and this
gives father and son time to escape.
Have you ever heard the word
“charity”? Protecting yourself, your
family, and your property are not the only reason to own guns. When other humans are in danger, and the
risks to you and yours are relatively low, you have not a responsibility, but AN OBLIGATION to defend your
fellow human beings. The obligation
is even stronger if those other human beings are old, sick, children,
handicapped, or weak. I chose the word obligation
purposely. ‘Responsibilities” are made
to be shirked off. Ever hear these
kindergarten teachers who try to brainwash young children into believing the
lie of man made global warming? They
make children repeat “With rights come responsibilities”. Factually incorrect. With rights comes only ONE obligation:
Don’t violate the rights of other human beings.
An obligation is stronger
than a responsibility. I wish there were
Samurai kindergarten. If I had any
children that is where I would send them.
At least they would get the opportunity to choose honor instead of
mediocrity.
In that scene, it never shows
what happened to those people. It’s highly
likely they were put back in the basement/cellar, naked, because THEY HAD NO
GUNS, BUT THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK THEM PRISONER DID HAVE GUNS.
At this point, the reader might
have noticed a, shall I say subtle, sub-theme in this post? If you have, excellent!
This whole anti-gun thing is
getting, correction, has gone, way past the point of logical thinking. I’m fine with keeping guns out of the hands
of people who meet the clinical definition of psychosis. (Psychosis is any mental disease in which the
person has lost touch with reality-they hear things other people don’t hear,
they see things other people don’t see, etc.)
But to restrict firearms ownership by people who are law abiding, have
no violent crime convictions and no psychosis is done only for one
reason:Tyranny.
(Also, if a charge of domestic
violence is going to keep one from owning a gun, domestic violence needs to be
raised to a felony in areas where it is classified as a misdemeanor. Otherwise you have felony accountability for
a misdemeanor crime.)
If the U.S. government wants to
restrict or take guns away from people who obey the law, you can be sure of
this: The U.S. government is planning on BREAKING THE LAW sometime in the near
future.
I do recall something about “of,
by and for the people.”
Sorry for the rant.
Do learn the lesson that The
Road teaches. It says:
1. Be prepared and don’t get caught with your
pants down.
2. Being prepared is not only about helping
yourself. It’s also about helping
others.
3. Being prepared to take advantage of
opportunities is a large part of winning in survival.
4. Keep the fire alive. (You’ll have to watch the film to get that
one. This is arguably the most important
thing in survival-attitude.) The father taught this to the boy in the film.
5. With regard to guns, have more than a
revolver with two bullets.
To all of you all around the
planet, keep the faith, think noble thoughts, do noble things, take care of the
ones you love, help others when possible, behave in an honorable manner, judge
others solely by their actions, respect the person and property of other people, and remember that when individual human
beings work together, we can improve the lot for all.