*Intolerance*
21 January 2005

Every webmaster gets called a dictator, a tyrant, a cult leader, yada, yada, yada, if they stay on the web long enough... many times it's some intolerant religious zealot professing to be "preaching the gospel" ("It's MY way or NO way, and if you don't believe exactly like I do, you're going straight to Hell").... other times it's just some deviant personality that *likes* stirring up trouble just for the fun of doing it, Sometimes it's both... Some people believe that he who shouts the loudest and curses the most is right... Wrong is wrong at any volume level. I'm not in the business of saving souls, or curing the mentally ill, or listening to some egotist trying to shout down people who have proven their points... I'm in the business of saving lives... In case these people haven't noticed, this is a preparedness site, Not City Hall, Not the corner Church, not the local "Write the editor" column in the newspaper, not a far right Militia... Here we tolerate EVERY decent person.

Many years ago I learned that there is a lot of Very Wrong Preparedness information out there.. some dangerous, some harmless but useless. But many people believe the wrong information and their families will suffer when disaster strikes and their wrong information doesn't work.

How many people used to think "I'll grab a backpack and head for the wilderness and then do... uuhhhh... something"?...
That's just plainly the wrong thing to do... it's a death sentence for you and your family if the crises is bad enough... it's just one example of Wrong thinking.

I realized that during a disaster, Many good people were going to die due to this wrong information... instead of whining about it, I Did Something about it.. I brought this Website Online (Before 1995 it was an Old-Style Networked "BBS" ["Bulletin Board Service"])... a place where we Test the things we discuss, a place where Racists, Deviants, Militants, and trouble-makers are not welcome, a place where the free exchange of ideas can be put forth without silly small minded people flaming them or belittling them... a place where people care about each other, Despite our differences in religion, or skin color, or how much our houses or vehicles cost.

Every-single-day, I wake up and, on top of my daily "real life routine", think about ways we can better protect ourselves and our loved ones... I try to inspire You to find ways to better protect yourselves and your loved ones, and to share that information with the rest of this group of DOERS.

Still it gets tiring, even for me, having to put up with small minded deviants that think Their way is the Only way, or some petty ego that has been bruised (Whether real or imagined)... and they constantly attack anyone that doesn't think their way is the Only way... They are thrown out of organization after organization, yet it's everyone else that's wrong... They're like gnats buzzing around your head.

They don't step up to the counter and put Their money down to start a Website... they don't learn computer languages and spend Their time putting together servers and dealing with web providers, and people, and scores of other things that go into creating and maintaining a Website... instead they want to preach their hate and intolerance while someone else does the lowly grunt work of running the site (and paying the bills)...

Not here.

Here, I don't care if you worship tree frogs, I don't care what color you are, or aren't... I don't care how fat, or thin, or ugly, or beautiful, a person is... I care about your Preparedness knowledge. YOU may have that small bit of information that makes the difference between life and death to countless thousands of people that hit our sites each day.. Your race, color, religion, etc, don't mean beans to me... all I ask is that you follow a few simple rules, and share your knowledge.

Yes, it gets old dealing with real life And these small minded deviants that get their egos hurt when they get called down for stirring up trouble, or for spewing hatred and intolerance, or spreading lies and rumors, or putting out Wrong Preparedness information that has not been tested.

Sometimes it gets real lonely out front.

As I get older, there are a lot of things I can no longer do, But I don't concentrate on those things, I concentrate on what I Can do! I find new ways to do the things I (and many others) have a hard time doing nowadays... But most of all, every-single-day, without exception, I run this site, because it's what I can do for the members of the site, and for people in the Preparedness Community who are looking for solid Survival Information. I run the sites, I make hard decisions about people and things, I listen to the Admins and Mentors, I gather the articles, sometimes I write the articles, and I send them to our Formatting Crew (for many years I formatted them myself by hand with a text editor), The Admin in charge of articles puts the articles online so that good, sane people can have Preparedness information that they can Trust.. not "What everyone knows", not "Armchair thinking", not "This sounds like it should work".. but Tested, Proven information....

...and I will continue to do this Every-single-day.... Because someone has to... and I'm not content to be one of those that sits back and complains while doing nothing.

It's a Huge job, and one that I take Very seriously. I take it seriously because the lives of MY children and the lives of Your children may very well Depend on having Correct information when disaster strikes. You can't sit on the fence and just watch and hope to accomplish anything.. it's the players Inside the fence that are making things happen.. not the spectators booing and jeering from the bleachers.

It's easy to Boo and jeer from the sidelines, it's hard to DO something about the problems we face. It's easy to simply take the work of others and not come up with anything yourself that will help.

Facta Non Verba - "DEEDS, Not words". I try to live by that simple code. I think Everyone here believes in those words also.. I think everyone here wants to contribute to the SOLUTION, not add to the problems.

Be part of the solution. Be the type of person that You would want to deal with yourself. Help those around you that need your help and knowledge.

If we can't do that, we're wasting our time being here at Alpha/Rubicon. When the rest of civilization is dropping like flies, I want Us to be Living, not just "Surviving"... to do that, we have to be a group, a team, we have to jump in and help shoulder the many loads... We have to get involved!

That's why I get up every morning and do what I do... and why so many others give freely of their time and knowledge here. If you aren't here to help, you're here for the wrong reasons. Don't "talk" about the solution, Work toward the solutions... everyone has something to share, everyone has something to learn, and together we accomplish big things while the talkers and whiners fall to the wayside.

Facta Non Verba... Simple words, but they call us to action... They inspire us to come up with the Solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems.

We've Beaten Many insurmountable problems, and we will continue to do so, Every-Single Day... because we aren't content to complain and do nothing, and it takes ALL types of people to come up with Solutions..

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make your dreams your master
If you can think - and not make your thoughts your aim
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Trip Williams



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