Happy National Preparedness Month! Though, as we take a good look around the world, you probably should have been checking your preps during last year's observance—or, honestly, maybe around 2019. After all, it's all about preparedness and not catching up with ongoing crises. But we do what we can with the situation we have. Around the world, in conditions that often seem inspired by apocalyptic novels, people from Stockholm to Shanghai are preparing for hard—or harder—times.
"National Preparedness Month is an observance each September to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time," notes the U.S. government's Ready.gov. This year's theme is "a lasting legacy," with a TV ad featuring a family finding photos of grandma taken "after that flood wiped out the whole neighborhood." They agree to plan for disasters so their property can be passed to the next generation. For a government message, it's remarkably sensible and focused on personal responsibility with no bigger role for the state than to offer helpful hints. Then again, after several years of pandemic, shortages, war, inflation, and an energy crunch, you would hope they'd have accepted the important role played by self-reliance.
