Jeff, that was a truly excellent post, very much down to Earth.

I guess we all have our preconceived notions about the possibility of a TEOTWAWKI situation and what one could do to survive that sort of thing. Reinforcing your home and hoarding lots of water, food and supplies sounds like a good strategy. But historically speaking, large-scale natural or man-made disasters tend to overwhelm entire societies, let alone invididuals.

There are definite merits in keeping some gear and supplies ready just in case. But at the end of the day, what good will a basement full of canned food do if the world as you know it really falls apart?

IMHO the only universal resources that will work anywhere, anytime are your skills (self-explanatory), physical shape (hard to accomplish anything if your body lets you down) and social network (long-term survival has always been a group thing).