STEWARDSHIP

Photo: S. Tsuchiya @s_tsuchiya

Merriam-Webster Definition of stewardship:

1: the office, duties, and obligations of a steward

2: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something, especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.

Let’s think about that for a moment and consider how it applies to survival, survivalist, survivalism.

Stewardship is a power word, with a depth of meaning behind it….”especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.”

What is entrusted to my care? My wife, my kids, my parents, myself, my clan? My property, my community, our environment, our culture, history, language? My rights to the land, the rights of the people, my country? Are all these things and more not something entrusted to my care?

Here is how I see it…

I keep fit, active, outdoors, in all seasons.

I eat clean, grow my food, or know the person who grows it for me.

I drink alcohol, on special occasions, 2 drink limit.

I do not smoke.

Drugs have their place in society, but not in my personal world.

I am gainfully employed, live below my means, and invest the remainder.

Multiple revenue streams.

I live together with my family, close to my extended family, in a part of the world that I love.

I see my children everyday.

Hunting and fishing put food on our table as often as we are successful.

Military trained in a volunteer army. Duty to one’s country has many forms.

I know how to fight. I learned it to do it when needed.

I have advanced life support training.

Vote in elections…municipal, state, provincial, federal, vote.

What ever I can do for myself I do. I shovel my snow, chop my firewood, grow my food, hunt my food, forage my food, cook my food, preserve my food.

Food is huge. Think of how much this consumes of your budget.

I fix things I own on the occasions they need it. Maintenance is a form of stewardship. Take care of your possessions. House, car, land, livestock, tools, investments, business.

I volunteer. I help my neighbours. I am known to the people I share community and environment.

Speaking of environment…we all have a collective stewardship of the environment. Resources, food, water, energy…the cause of the next global war?

The list can go on and on, but it won’t. Getting on a good path can, and does, take a lot of effort, commitment, habit, and sacrifice. But the end result is what puts you apart from the majority of the populace. You are prepared. You do know what you are doing. You do have the skills and equipment to save lives, take lives. Perhaps you are a patriot. You have a community behind you, the core of which is your family. Train the ones who inherit the stewardship from you.

Northern Survivalist

Cover Photo: Raul Cacho Oses @raulcachophoto