A lesson from the Black Death

A few months ago as I was reading a non-fiction book on the Black Death.  There was an interesting story of a family that was out of food and staving.  The family members decided they had a choice to make – either try to get some food from town, or stay at home and starve to death.

The family gathered all of the money that they had, the father and son then headed off on their journey.

On the way to town, the father decided to stop by his cousins house.  Upon arrival, the cousin was sick with the plague, her husband was dead, but the cousins baby was well.  The cousin – knowing that she was dying – begged her cousin (the father) to take her baby with him – which he did.

The father and son decided to turn around and go back home, instead of going on to town.  Right before the trio got home, the father and son killed the baby, skinned it and cut it up into small pieces.  The father then presented the butchered baby to his unsuspecting wife, along with the story of how his cousin had butchered a hog and gave them part of the meat.

The wife cooked the baby and served it to the family.

About 10 days later all of the family were dead from the plague, except the son.  Who went to town and confessed to the sheriff as to what he and his father had done to the baby.

Now ask yourself, how bad would things have to get before “you” resorted to such measures to survive?

Are you and your family prepared for self sufficiency over long periods of time? In other words, if there were no grocery stores, how long until you and your family starve?