You probably think that everything in your life is going OK. You’re getting by – things could certainly be better, but they’re good enough. You have a place to live and food to eat. You’re able to buy the things that you need and most of the things that you want. When you’re not working, you enjoy your relaxing time at home watching Netflix or playing video games or whatever it is that you do for relaxation and fun. Life is fine. Of course you aspire to more, but that would take more effort. So, you tell yourself that you’re OK with where you are at the moment, and the extra effort isn’t worth it or even needed.
Or maybe you think that the economy is just fine, the current state of politics is just fine, the state of the world is just fine, and everything is going to go on just as it always has and there will never be any need to do more than you are doing now or have done in the past. After all, you’re doing just fine.
Or maybe you feel like you don’t have options. Maybe you feel like the system is rigged, or you were dealt a bad hand, or your circumstances prevent you from doing any better. Maybe you have addiction issues, or legal issues, or financial issues, or health issues, or social issues and you keep telling yourself that these obstacles are the things that are preventing you from having more and doing more.
Maybe you think; I’ve always gotten by OK and I always well. I’ll just wait and see what happens and figure it out when the time comes. But let me tell you, successful people make plans and goals. Successful people dig deep and find the motivation to pursue those plans and goals. Successful people keep pushing and moving forward, despite setbacks, obstacles, or challenges. Successful people do not make excuses, accept the status quo, doubt their ability to do more, or feel like they are powerless in the face of obstacles. This is the difference between average people and successful people. Life is hard for everyone, even those that have succeeded financially or socially. No one has ever lived without struggles and hardships. The question is, are you truly satisfied with being average or do you believe that you are capable of more?
The world is full of average people, and they are no less valuable than anyone else. And if being average is all that you aspire to, then there’s no shame in that. But if you aspire to being more than average, to living a better life, then this is the article for you.
Why Apathy Is Deadly
Let’s look at an excerpt from a recent article about apathy.
When it comes to the subject of timeless wisdom, few sayings provoke more thought about the current state of society than; “give a man a fish, and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” This simple yet profound idea encapsulates the essence of self-reliance and the transformative value of empowerment. However, in today’s society, this sentiment seems to be increasingly overlooked, particularly in the context of the growing apathy epidemic in the United States.
Apathy refers to a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern about things that typically evoke emotion or excitement. It can manifest as indifference, passivity, or a lack of motivation to engage with the world or take action. Apathy can be observed in various aspects of life, including personal relationships, work, politics, and social issues. It often involves a sense of detachment or disengagement from one’s surroundings or responsibilities.
We can see the apathy epidemic today in various forms, from political disengagement to a reliance on quick fixes and handouts rather than pursuing sustainable solutions. At its core, it reflects a fundamental disconnect between the desire for immediate gratification and the willingness to invest in long-term growth and self-sufficiency. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the pervasive attitude of wanting the “fish” without the inclination to “learn to fish.”
In my work with community outreach, I see so many people that have overwhelming needs and are looking to have others meet those needs for them. When I suggest ways for them to learn to meet the needs for themselves, they generally seem uninterested. This has led me to think about whether modern society has lost the inclination to “learn to fish” in favor of simply demanding that others “give them the fish that they need or want”. I have come to call this – an Epidemic of Apathy.
Apathy is literally deadly. When a person loses the motivation to thrive or even survive, and when times become existentially challenging, they won’t have the ability to survive such challenges. They will end up in FEMA camps, refugee camps, detention centers, living under bridges or on sidewalks in tents or in the open elements, begging in the streets for scraps of garbage to eat or muddy water to drink. They will be begging for any kind of help that anyone can or will offer them. And why will they find themselves in this situation (during the upcoming collapse)? Because of apathy – at least in part.
In the times leading up to the existential challenges, that are certainly coming, there were plenty of warnings of what was to come and they chose to ignore the warnings – they lacked the motivation or the interest in what was happening or in preparing for what was coming.
Complacency is one thing, people get comfortable in their normalcy bias and don’t want to even think about their comfortable little lives being interrupted. But the pervasive attitude in the US today goes beyond mere complacency to the point of apathy. Complacency, in the coming times, will result in extreme hardship, but apathy will literally be deadly.
But there is still time to become proactive and prepare for the coming existential hardships. So let’s take a proverbial “deep dive” into the subject and learn more about what you can do.
Where Things Are At The Moment
It doesn’t take much effort to see where we are at the moment. The mainstream media, like CNN or MSNBC or Fox News, are not going to give you a very accurate picture of where the world currently stands. Why is that? Because these types of news outlets focus on stories that they think will improve their ratings rather than giving an accurate and objective description of the reality of the current situation. In order to understand the reality of the world today, it is important to make a little bit of effort to find reliable and objective sources of information. Here is an excerpt from a recent article on the subject.
The impact of the changes in news availability and consumption over the last five decades is not necessarily a straightforward matter. On one hand, the proliferation of digital platforms has made it easier for people to access a wider range of perspectives and sources. However, this accessibility comes with challenges such as the spread of misinformation, or outright propaganda, and the blurring of lines between opinion and fact.
Fifty years ago, traditional news outlets wielded significant editorial control, often adhering to rigorous journalistic standards. While biases and inaccuracies still existed, the process of fact-checking and verification was more centralized and ethical.
Today, the landscape is more decentralized, with an endless pool of sources ranging from established news organizations to user-generated content on social media. While this diversity can possibly provide increased access to information, it also requires that people spend an enormous amount of time wading through a sea of information in search of nuggets of truth, trying to discern credible sources from those peddling misinformation or propaganda.
In essence, while technology has made news more accessible, the responsibility for discerning reliability rests increasingly on the individual, making the reliability of news consumption today a much more complex issue.
Here is a short list of information sources that will help expand your access to current events:
It is more important, at this time in history, to be well informed than it has ever been. The world is changing very quickly and we are headed into what has been called a MetaCrisis. From a new World War and Economic Collapse, to possibly the actual End of the World as we know it. If you have no idea what is happening around you, how could you possibly be prepared for what comes? How could you survive hard times or a catastrophic situation? Hard times are absolutely coming, and very soon I might add. You owe it to yourself and your family to know where we stand at the moment and where things might be going.
Where Things Are Going
This is the million-dollar question, isn’t it. If a person knew of danger or catastrophe ahead of time then it would be easy to avoid it, or at least prepare for it. The problem is that we don’t know for certain what is going to happen or when. However, we can use a bit of common sense, reliable information, discernment, and God’s grace to come up with a reasonable expectation of what is likely to happen in both the near and distant futures. And this is your responsibility in life. As an adult human being, who presumably has a functioning survival instinct, you are genetically programmed to try and survive. And to survive well, you need to use the faculties that God gave you and make the effort to mitigate the dangers and challenges that life throws in your way. Whether that be small challenges like; how to pay the rent, how to fix the lawn mower, or how to start living healthier. Or big challenges like; how to educate oneself for a successful career, how to overcome a devastating bankruptcy; or worse, how to survive and economic collapse, world war, or catastrophic event. Here are a few articles to consider regarding where things might be going in the near future:
What Are Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and How it Would Affect You
What is Web3 and How Would it Affect You?
Things Are Changing Fast; Is It On Purpose?
Looking at the Stakeholder Economy: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Capital Controls May Be Coming, What Now?
The Plight of the Wage Slave: Surviving on Less than Living Wage
Capitalism is Dead; Long Live Neo-Feudalism
Facing 2024: What Should You Know About the Modern World War
Are Patients Just Profit Sources in the Trillion Dollar Healthcare Scheme?
SARS-CoV-2 spike protein may be amyloidogenic; why is this a problem
The Death of Globalization and the Rise of a New Socioeconomic Landscape
Are You Prepared for Danger: Lessons from Proverbs 22:3
The End Is Here: Are We Living in the “Days of Noah”
Are You Ready for Chaos in 2024: Get Prepared Now
Will You Survive the Next 7 Years; The Tribulation
Will You Survive the MetaCrisis: Understanding the Precariousness of our Times
How to Survive the Coming Chaos of 2024; From Pandemics to Election Interference
And if you really want to know what to expect, subscribe to KoinNews for the best daily briefing about the changes in the world that affect you.
How Will It Affect You?
That depends, to a large extent, on how well informed you have been and how well you have prepared for the inevitable difficulties. But let’s assume that you haven’t been informed and haven’t really done much to prepare. What would that look like?
In an Economic Collapse, you might see the following scenario:
As an economic system starts to collapse or be reshaped, we witness a tsunami of economic events. Let’s look at a fictional scenario to see what it might look like:
A Bank Holiday
We might wake up one morning to find that the government has announced a “bank holiday”. Of course, we’re all familiar with the idea of a bank being closed on federal holidays but what we are talking about here is something very different. In fact, we have seen it before in the United States. The Bank Holiday of 1933 was a week-long suspension of all banking transactions in the United States, beginning on March 6, 1933, and ending on March 13, 1933. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, declared the holiday to prevent bank failures and restore confidence in the financial system.
Bank Failures
As we move through the bank holiday, having been declared in an effort to try and “save the banking system”, we start to see news reports of bank after bank failing, people crowding around ATM machines to no avail, public anger and lashing out from fear of having no access to money, violence in the streets and the inevitable governmental efforts to “restore peace and safety”.
Public Safety Lockdown
In an attempt to restore peace and safety, local governments issue a “shelter in place” order and ask all residents to remain in their homes until order has been restored. Of course, only the law abiding citizens comply and the chaos only worsens as the streets are patrolled by marauding gangs intent of finding and taking whatever they may need or want.
Deposit Tokens
The federal government, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank, issues an announcement that a temporary solution to the banking crisis has been found; Deposit Tokens. Each person in the country will be able to sign up for a FedNow digital account where they will be given a certain number of tokens that can then be used as a form of currency until a more permanent solution is available.
CBDC
After several months of deposit tokens, a semblance of order has been restored, people are able to buy essentials once again, but everyone is still waiting for their lives to return to normal. Good news! The Federal Reserve Bank announces that the new Central Bank Digital Currency ( CBDC) is now ready for issue and the deposit tokens in your FedNow wallet will automatically be converted into digital dollars. Of course, there is no way to know how much money you had in the bank before the collapse so everyone will start with the same number of digital dollars just to be fair.
Outlawing of Alternative Forms of Money or Currency
In order for the new CBDC system to work effectively, all other forms of money will now be made illegal. All citizens will have three months to turn in any cash, gold, silver or other forms of money to a local FedNow branch in exchange for ten cents on the dollar in digital dollars. Anyone caught possessing or attempting to use banned forms of currency will be arrested and jailed for a violation of the new Federal Reserve Currency Act.
Clearly, this is a very concerning scenario and hopefully not one that we would ever see, but, what if we did?
In a World War scenario, you might see the following:
Cyber Warfare
Cyber warfare refers to the use of digital attacks by one nation-state to disrupt, damage, or destroy the information systems of another nation. These attacks can target critical infrastructure, military systems, or civilian services, aiming to compromise national security, disrupt economic stability, or gain a strategic advantage.
Infrastructure Warfare
Infrastructure warfare involves deliberate attacks on a nation’s critical infrastructure with the intent to disrupt essential services and cripple the nation’s functionality. This can include physical attacks on power grids, water supply systems, transportation networks, and communication systems, as well as cyberattacks aimed at compromising the digital systems that control and manage these infrastructures. The goal of infrastructure warfare is to create widespread chaos, economic instability, and diminish the targeted nation’s ability to respond effectively to further attacks or emergencies.
Political Warfare
Political warfare refers to the use of various non-military tactics by a state or non-state actor to influence, manipulate, or destabilize another nation’s political system, public opinion, or leadership. This type of warfare includes propaganda, misinformation campaigns, economic pressure, cyber operations, and support for political movements or opposition groups. The objective of political warfare is to achieve strategic goals by weakening an adversary’s political cohesion, undermining its government, or swaying its populace, often without engaging in open conflict.
Information Warfare
Information warfare involves the strategic use and manipulation of information to gain a competitive advantage over an adversary. This type of warfare encompasses a wide range of activities, including the spread of propaganda, disinformation, and misinformation, cyber operations to disrupt or intercept communications, and psychological operations designed to influence perceptions and behavior. The primary goal of information warfare is to control the information environment to influence decision-making, undermine the morale and credibility of opponents, and shape public opinion and narratives to favor one’s own objectives.
Proxy Warfare
Proxy warfare refers to conflicts where two or more opposing states or entities support third parties—such as local militias, insurgent groups, or other non-state actors—to fight on their behalf, rather than engaging in direct combat themselves. This type of warfare allows the principal actors to pursue their strategic objectives while minimizing their own direct involvement and the associated political and military risks. Proxy warfare can involve the provision of funding, weapons, training, and intelligence to the proxies, who conduct the actual fighting. This approach enables the main parties to influence the outcome of conflicts, project power, and counter adversaries indirectly.
Economic Warfare
Economic warfare involves the use of economic measures to weaken an adversary’s economy and thereby diminish its political and military power. These measures can include sanctions, trade restrictions, tariffs, embargoes, and other financial tactics designed to disrupt the target’s economic stability and growth. The goal of economic warfare is to create economic hardship, limit access to critical resources, and erode public support for the adversary’s government or policies. By undermining the economic foundation, economic warfare seeks to compel the target to change its behavior, policies, or strategic decisions without resorting to direct military confrontation.
Confronting the realities of a potential World War 3 can feel overwhelming. But, knowledge is power, and being well-informed allows you to take proactive steps. It is always better to be proactive rather than reactive. Consider what steps you can take to prepare your family for any or all of the above scenarios.
How would cyber warfare affect your life? What if there were no water or electricity for an extended period of time? What if there is internal conflict, whether civil war or general social unrest for whatever reason? Are you able to discern truthful information from propaganda? Are your political views being manipulated? How self-sufficient can your household be? Do you have alternate revenue streams? Do you know your neighbors and what skills they may have to offer in a time of crisis? These are the types of questions that you absolutely need to be asking yourself and then you need to be taking appropriate actions.
We don’t know for sure what is coming but we do reasonably know that something is coming. It would be the height of foolishness to bury your head in the sand at a time like this. If you do nothing, you and your family will certainly not survive – and that is how it would affect you.
What Can You Do About It?
As we have already seen, information is the first step. In order to solve a problem, you first need to know what that problem is. So, become informed. The second step is to start making plans to solve the problems that you have now identified and try to mitigate the dangers and issues that will arise. So, let’s now look at some practical thing that you can do to prepare and protect yourself and your family.
How Should You Start?
- Be realistic about current events and about the future. Don’t be the person that just ignores things and hopes that they go away. That strategy will definitely result in tragedy. But, on the other hand, don’t go to an extreme and become a nihilistic prepping crazy person. You have to find a balance. Make reasonable preparations but still enjoy life.
- Learn
- History and Cycles – History tends to repeat itself so studying the past can give insight into the future.
- Current Events – Know what’s going on around you and in the world.
- Predictions and Forecasting – Listen to what others have to say about the subject.
- Preparedness – Prepare for various scenarios:
- Small Emergencies – These are the small situations that confront us all on a fairly regular basis. Things like: car breaks down, water heater goes out, etc.
- Larger Emergencies – These are the things that happen less often. Things like: tornadoes, flooding, major medical events, etc.
- Catastrophes – These are the really big emergencies that rarely happen. Things like: economic collapse, war in your local area, political collapse, major environmental disasters like tsunamis, major hurricanes or large volcanic eruptions, etc.
It all boils down to common sense. Be informed, make appropriate preparations, reevaluate and make appropriate adjustments as needed, and pray for God’s grace in your life and during emergencies. We can’t control life, but we do have a responsibility to be active participants in our own well-being, as best we can. So, don’t be complacent or apathetic; make the effort to secure your future and that of your family.
Alternative Economies
Alternative economies refer to economic systems and practices that operate outside or alongside traditional capitalist economies, often focusing on social, environmental, and community-oriented values. These economies prioritize sustainable development, equitable resource distribution, and local self-sufficiency over profit maximization. Examples include:
- Community Economies – Community economies refer to economic systems and practices that prioritize community well-being, cooperation, and sustainability over purely profit-driven motives. These economies often emphasize local ownership, production, and consumption, aiming to strengthen social bonds and support local businesses and resources. They can take various forms, including cooperative enterprises, community-supported agriculture, local currency systems, and sharing economies. The focus is typically on building resilience, promoting social justice, and fostering ecological sustainability within a specific community or region.
- Time Banking – Time banking transforms the conventional idea of value by recognizing that every individual’s time is a valuable resource that can be leveraged for both personal and social benefit. In these challenging times, where traditional economic systems are failing nearly everyone, time banking becomes a lifeline, weaving a safety net of support and collaboration. As Kommunity members exchange time helping one another, a reciprocal network of empowerment blossoms, a network woven with the threads of shared struggle and purpose. The power of time banking lies not only in the tangible time exchanged but also in the intangible bonds forged. It fosters a spirit of interconnectedness, reminding us that our strengths and abilities are not measured solely by our bank accounts.
- LETS – Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) are community-based mutual aid networks where members exchange goods and services without the need for conventional currency. In LETS, participants earn credits for providing goods or services to others within the system and then use these credits to obtain goods or services from others.
- Mutual Credit – Mutual credit is a system of exchange where goods and services are traded directly between participants without the need for a traditional currency like cash. In this system, each participant has an account, or “credit line”, which allows them to both buy and sell goods and services within the network. When a participant sells something, their account is credited with the value of the transaction, and when they buy something, their account is debited. The key feature of mutual credit is that it operates on the basis of trust and reciprocity among its members. Participants rely on each other to honor their commitments and maintain a balance of credits and debits within the system. This allows for a more fluid and decentralized form of economic exchange, where participants can engage in transactions based on their needs and abilities without being limited by the availability of traditional currency.
- Cooperative Communities – A cooperative community is a social structure where individuals voluntarily come together to achieve common goals, share resources, and support one another in various aspects of life. At the core of a cooperative community is the principle of cooperation rather than competition. Members work together harmoniously, pooling their talents, skills, and resources for the collective benefit of all.
- Mutual Aid Groups – Mutual aid groups are voluntary associations formed by individuals with a shared purpose of providing support, assistance, and solidarity to one another. These groups operate on principles of reciprocity, cooperation, and mutual benefit, rather than relying on traditional hierarchical structures or professional services. Members of mutual aid groups come together to address common needs, such as financial support, emotional care, practical assistance, or advocacy for social change.
Alternative economies seek to address the shortcomings of conventional economic models, promoting more inclusive and sustainable ways of living and working.
Alternative Economic Lifestyles
Alternative economic lifestyles are ways of living that deviate from mainstream consumerism and conventional economic practices, emphasizing values such as sustainability, ethical consumption, simplicity, and community. These lifestyles include:
- Minimalism – Focusing on reducing material possessions and living with only what is necessary to lead a meaningful life. Minimalists prioritize experiences over things and seek to eliminate excess to achieve greater clarity and freedom.
- Ethical Consumption – Making purchasing decisions based on ethical considerations, such as the environmental impact, labor practices, and sustainability of products. Ethical consumers choose goods and services that align with their values, often prioritizing fair trade, organic, and cruelty-free products.
- Communal Living – Sharing resources and living spaces with others to foster a sense of community and reduce individual consumption. Communal living arrangements, such as co-housing communities or intentional communities, emphasize collective decision-making, shared responsibilities, and mutual support.
- Simple Living – Embracing a lifestyle that rejects the pursuit of wealth and material possessions in favor of personal fulfillment, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility. Simple living often involves reducing consumption, growing one’s own food, and focusing on personal and community well-being.
- Multigenerational Living – Multi-generational living refers to a housing arrangement where multiple generations of a family—such as grandparents, parents, and children—live together under one roof. Multi-generational living can vary in structure, from large homes designed to accommodate multiple family units to modified single-family homes or even separate living quarters on the same property. This lifestyle is increasingly popular in many cultures and communities as a way to adapt to economic pressures, provide mutual support, and enhance family cohesion.
- Homesteading – Homesteading is a lifestyle characterized by self-sufficiency, where individuals or families live off the land by growing their own food, raising livestock, and often producing their own utilities like water and energy. It emphasizes a return to simpler, more sustainable living practices, often in rural or semi-rural settings. Homesteading promotes a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle, prioritizing independence, resilience, and a close connection to nature. It often involves a combination of traditional knowledge and modern innovations to create a balanced, self-sufficient way of living.
These alternative economic lifestyles aim to create more sustainable, equitable, and fulfilling ways of living by challenging the norms of conventional consumer culture and fostering greater connection with others and the environment.
What Is a KommunityKoin Kommunity?
Community and Collaboration
Imagine a community or society that was based, not on how much you could get from others but rather, how much you could give to others…not on the accumulation of monetary capital but rather, the accumulation of social capital. Would that not be a better way to live? Time banking with KommunityKoin is the best way to start. We have introduced a new kind of time bank app that makes it simple and easy to build your time banking community. Click here to see how it works.
Pay It Forward
KommunityKoin provides you with a convenient and organized system in which you can spend an hour helping me, then I spend an hour helping someone else who spends an hours helping yet another person and eventually it gets back around and someone spends an hour helping you. It’s a circle of community members helping one another in a way that is equitable. Our revolutionary time banking app, called KoinPurse, is an automated timekeeping system that easily tracks your community’s volunteer activities in order to maintain a balanced and equitable community. Simple really.
In a Nutshell
We have covered a lot of information in this article in order to try and explain the importance of building a KommunityKoin Kommunity today. I genuinely hope that you have found it helpful and that you move forward with building your Kommunity as soon as possible. It really is very important and doesn’t have to cost anything but time and effort. So, here’s to the success of YOUR Kommunity. Cheers my friends.