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Opinion

There’s Nothing I Can Do to Save You

“Embrace the probability of your imminent death and know in your heart that there’s nothing I can do to save you.”
– Haymitch Abernathy, The Hunger Games

I know what you’re thinking right now. “Skip, that’s a pretty negative statement. Aren’t you supposed to cheer us up and give us hope and courage in these trying times?”

And my answer to that is: “Well, yes … and no.”

While I want to encourage you, I also want to be realistic. The last thing I should be doing is blowing pretty-colored unicorn dust up your rectum while the whole world burns around us. I just couldn’t feel right about that.

In the military, we have something called a situation report. For short, we call it a “sitrep.”

sit​rep: a periodic report of the current military situation.
-Merriam-Webster

Some people didn’t like the last article I wrote titled “America is Winding Down.” They said it
carried a negative message, to which I responded: “Duh … do ya think?” Yes, it did have a negative message. But here’s the thing: If it’s raining radioactive meteorites, I’m not going to tell you to go outside and have a fun day at the beach. No, I’m going to tell you to stay inside, hunker down, preferably below ground.

For over a decade I’ve been writing and warning about the possibility of American social decline and even societal collapse, but most of America didn’t want to hear that. And part of that can be construed as a healthy dose of optimism and is appropriate and even praiseworthy. However, when the situation doesn’t merit optimism, you’d be ill-advised to pretend things are better than they really are.

So, here’s the sitrep:

It’s in the form of a partial quote from Marine Corps Colonel Lewis (Chesty) Puller during the battle for the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War, as he was hopelessly surrounded by advancing Chinese communist forces.

“They’re on our right; they’re on our left; they’re in front of us; they’re behind us…”

That doesn’t sound very optimistic. It sounds downright depressing. In fact, it sounds a lot like the quote I opened up with: “Embrace the probability of your imminent death and know in your heart that there’s nothing I can do to save you.”

All this past week people have been lining up in droves to register for my concealed carry classes, and that’s a good thing; however, it might be a little late in the game. Here’s the situation: it’s the 4th quarter with 2 minutes to go and the good guys are down by 7. We have the ball and it’s 3rd and long.

While there’s reason to hope; it’s important to point out that hope without action is a feeble attempt at staving off your imminent loss. Hope is good, but only if you make the conversion and then march the ball into the end zone.

So, when it comes to the situation, while I am hopeful, I am not optimistic. It’s the 11th hour, folks.

The barbarian hordes are pounding on the gates; they are rioting all over the country, in almost every major city of America. They are demanding that the police are defunded. What does that mean in real-life terms? Imagine a football game without referees where your side followed the rules and the other did not. That would make it pretty hard for your team to win wouldn’t it? But that’s exactly what is happening right now in America. The other team has discovered that the referees no longer have whistles.

For 15 years I was a college and high school soccer referee, and I quickly learned that control was a feeble and fleeting moment. It was like a vapor that rose up in the morning and then burned off with the sun. The game could be going quite well, and then, all of sudden, the wheels would come off the bus and players, coaches and fans would start fighting. I thought I had control; but here’s the rub.

Control is an illusion. You believe you have it; and it makes you feel good to think so; but it’s not real.

The players are in control; they always have been. And, when the players no longer want to follow the rules, en masse, then … well, you see the results in our burning cities.
So, what is the answer? Is there any hope? Yes, there is always hope, but hope without action, like faith … is dead.

Here is my advice. Keep fighting politically, but have a fall-back plan. You need to protect your family just in case we can’t get the wheels back on the bus in time. Go ahead and take that concealed carry class. Buy a gun. Learn how to use it. Do what it takes to prepare for what battles lie ahead. If you and your loved ones don’t survive, then nothing else matters. Protecting your family is job 1.

And now I’m going to give you some hope, and this has to do with warrior mindset. Here’s the rest of that Chesty Puller quote.

“They’re on our right; they’re on our left; they’re in front of us; they’re behind us…they
can’t get away now!”

In the battle for the Chosin Reservoir, 30,000 UN troops were attacked by 120,000 communist soldiers. The UN troops, mostly US Marines, supported by the US Eighth Army, fought for 17 days as they retreated back into South Korea. The end result was a strategic victory for the Chinese. They won the battle because they achieved their goal of driving out the UN troops. But in military terms the battle was clearly a pyrrhic victory for the Chinese.

A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.
-wikipedia.org

It was the attitude of Chesty Puller that won the day, that helped them to survive. Chesty Puller survived as did most of his Marines. But here are the game stats: UN casualties 17,843. Communist casualties 49,800.

In times like these, when we are surrounded by insurmountable odds, then we have to be at our best.

In the battle we are currently fighting, then either the entire team pulls together and gives their best effort, or we lose by default. At this point in our nation’s history, your attitude should be that of a Marine, like Chesty Puller.

Many Americans haven’t been politically engaged, but now the left has their attention. Funny how looting, burning and killing can wake people up. If you love America, then fight for her.

One of my favorite movies, and I watch this one about every three months or so, gives us a very good glimpse of realized tyranny. President Snow is clearly in control. He has the power; the establishment; and the will to wield it no matter how many people he has to kill. But do you remember the words of the Mocking Jay: “If we burn … you burn!”

There is a segment of our population that is willing to take this game all the way into double overtime. They are, quite frankly, willing to burn down an entire country before admitting defeat. In the end, it will come down to one thing: resolve.

Too many on the right are willing to let one man carry all the water, do all the blocking, all the fighting, while they sit in a recliner with a beer in one hand and the remote control in the other. But that’s not the way victories are won.

The team who is willing to fight to the death will win this game. And now comes the bad part: the other side does not know it’s a game. They are playing for keeps. And they’ll do anything, even die, in order to win.

But the bigger question is this: what are you willing to do?

And now, back to The Hunger Games. And may the odds be ever in your favor.

Skip Coryell

Skip Coryell lives with his wife and children in Michigan. Skip Coryell is the author of nine books including  Blood in the Streets: Concealed Carry and the OK Corral; RKBA: Defending the Right to Keep and Bear Arms; The God Virus, and We Hold These Truths. He is the founder of The Second Amendment March and the President of White Feather Press. He is an avid hunter and sportsman, a Marine Corps veteran, and co-host of the syndicated radio show Frontlines of Freedom. Skip also hosts the weekly podcast The Home Defense Show, which can be heard 24/7 at www.americaswebradio.com/home-defense. For more details on Skip Coryell, or to contact him personally, go to his website at skipcoryell.com

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