Photo fromÂ myfoxny.com.

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Today we are joined by Frank Sharpe, Jr. from Fortress Defense Consultants to discuss some of the lessons that can be learned from Hurricane Sandy.

FrankÂ has been a firearms instructor for over 10 years. As a senior staff instructor for Defense Training International (DTI), he has trained thousands of citizens, police, and military in the art of defensive firearms, and is the author of the DTI Instructorsâ€™ Standards Manual. Frank specializes in the effective instruction of female students and regularly speaks on defensive issues for womenâ€™s groups and community watch organizations.

– Brandon

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â€œIt saysÂ I’veÂ got 12 miles left. If I donâ€™t get gas, I guess thatâ€™s it.â€ â€“ Statement of man sitting in his car in a gas line on November 1, 2012, in New Jersey.Â The lazy disconnect from reality is a termÂ I’veÂ been using to describe a mindset. What Iâ€™m referring to is a person who intentionally ignores reality and engages in self-inflicted victimization. And they do so because dealing with reality would be too much work.

This comes in many forms, but the latest example is the obvious lack of personal preparation millions of people failed to engage in when they had a full week of warning that the worst storm in modern American history was about to strike them!Â ManyÂ couldn’tÂ be bothered to make the most basic of efforts. That is: to fill their freakin’ gas tanks up on the way home from work!

Somehow the â€˜Just in Time Inventoryâ€™ practices ofÂ WalmartÂ and Costco have drifted through the transom of the average Americanâ€™s cranium and taken hold as a way of life. People are so detached that they must think gasoline appears from the gas-fairy and could never be in short supply, and even if it was in short supply some government Messiah will wave his or her hands and make it all better. It is literally childish. It is the thought process of a toddler that holds their hands in front of their own face and thinks you canâ€™t see them.

Food, water and the necessities of life are all available at our fingertips 24/7, and that has reduced their perceived value to much of our population. Many no longer see any of it as necessity, but as an afterthought. The focus is not on filling their stomachs; itâ€™s on getting the best score on Call of Duty, or securing some friend-impressing trinket or gadget. That separation from reality is now coming back to bite millions of people.

And this phenomenon is not just a general public problem – letâ€™s not forget those self-absorbed re-election addicts called government. As I type this Mayor Bloomberg of NYC has announced they are going forward with the NYC Marathon on Sundayâ€¦

SAY WHAT!!!?

All that says to me is that itâ€™s obvious this guy has a financial interest that is bigger to him than the dying and starving and freezing people of the city. Iâ€™m sure most of the readers here are familiar with Criminal Bloombergâ€™s antics with Mayorâ€™s Against Illegal Guns and all the felonious actions heâ€™s been up to with that upstanding group ofÂ slime ballsÂ So, why should it surprise any of us that he might have run for office in order to expand his bank account?

I just saw a camera shot on the news of crews blocking off streets and setting up grandstands, etc., for the marathon. So that manpower and those resourcesÂ couldn’tÂ be better directed somewhere else, Mr Mayor? Like, perhaps, rescuing elderly people trapped in the second stories of their flooded homes right now?

Naaaaah.

Perhaps with enough public outcries theyâ€™ll cancel itâ€¦who knows. But the real point is whereÂ Bloombergâ€™s priorities and mindset are. He too, for years, has been displaying a lazy disconnect from reality. Heâ€™s pandering for personal gain at tax payer expense, and that is evil.

There are times when we all suffer from it. None of us is guilt-free. But regardless of what any of us chooses to ignore, reality is still always reality. We all have one life on this planet, and itâ€™s up to the individual to navigate it. You can live at the expense of others and bury your head in the sand anytime discomfort threatens your bubble, or you can embrace life and all the risk and excitement and pain that comes with it.Â I’veÂ personally found that the more directly I take reality on, the less long term pain there is. The less I kid myself, the better off I am.

Because of that I have had to accept the fact that life has risk, and it is my job to manage that risk. I provide for my security, I take as much information as I can to make informed choices, and I keep food and water at home in case thereâ€™s a storm. I also understand that I will eventually die regardless of preparations or life choices. My goal, however, is to die at the age of 90 in my sleep, not at the age of 44, beaten to death in a crowd fighting for food, or freezing to death because the power went out for a week in November. Those things are EASILY avoided with minimal effort.

My life, like yours, is limited by time. The quality of that life is enhanced by work and good choices.

A wise man once said: Whether you have good luck or bad luck, only a fool believes he deserves either.

So, let Sandy be a wake up for us. We should all be making lists and executing a disaster plan for ourselves and our families. Luck will be what it is â€“ how we deal with luck is what defines our lives.