When I received this book, I was in the middle of a coughing fit that was so violent I was afraid I would break a rib. Thank you, Chief Evers, for sending it to me… I suspect the other author Dr. Roberto Silva would have advised me to go to the emergency room.
The opening page has a quote from Mark Twain, “It’s better to be careful one hundred times than to get killed once.”
This book has clear, detailed information on how to cope with those 100 crises, large and small, so you can “live to die another day.” This is the kind of training they give to 007 and Navy SEALS. It’s hardwired into their brains, and that’s how they can appear to be invulnerable. (Pity Hollywood never shows them in training, studying this book.)
Coughing as bad as I was at the time, I thought “This must be a message from God.”
Unfortunately, this book was published before Windows 8 came out. My #1 computer is a “Windows Hate” machine now. . . you click on a PDF file, and it sends you into a mysterious alternate dimension where you can read the file but not return to the previous screen – or print it out!
Oh, well. Off to Walgreens I went for $15 worth of Ricola cough lozenges, then back home and two quarts of water and a bad movie later I was well enough to turn in.
This morning I just emailed the ebook back to myself and opened it up on an old laptop so now I can scan the book while I write this column. (I’m too proud to call my nephew for a tutorial on how to navigate Windows Hate.)
See? All the emergencies that we cope with each day? If you have kids or cats or a 10-year-old car or an ex who’s a card-carrying member of the NRA or neighbors who are Democrats – youngsters who play softball on the other side of your backyard fence, you name it.
We all live in a combat zone any more.
This book ought to be required reading in every school in America. At least then we would be confident that our kids graduate knowing at least SOMETHING practical, instead of multitasking social networking on a dozen different platforms simultaneously using audio, video, texting and ESP.
Chapter two is “Active shooter.” There’s another long chapter on “Terrorism” with a section “indicative behaviors of suicide bombers.” Your small kids need to read that chapter. They need to realize that seeing bad video game guys lurking in the hallways at school is not a good thing.
Adults need to refresh their skills every time they go to the shopping mall or cinema.
There are several chapters on natural disasters – floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme cold. What you do to be prepared (medical kit, ID cards, food and water in a safe place, etc), what to do when they are happening, and afterward.
I live in tornado alley, and we get severe warnings several times a year; hurricanes even. Flood warnings. This books goes right there with the weather warning radio, flashlight and batteries. (And the voltage regulator to get juice from my idling car a couple of times a day when the power goes out to get heat and air to my fish tanks.)
There’s food and water safety tips, ideas on coping with the traumatic stress of the event itself, and first aid tips for everything from choking to burns, bleeding, bites, blasts, electrocution and head injury.
Hell, put this little jewel in your emergency preparedness kit (read it first, STUDY it). Print it out or put it on your iPad (be sure you have extra batteries).
As you leave the scene of a natural disaster, you will need to know about “hotel safety and security” and “identity theft” and “aircraft safety” and maybe even “domestic violence” when the horrific stress freaks you out or somebody else in your party.
“Auto emergencies” always happen at the worse possible time, and “chemical emergencies” are closer than you think, as are “hazardous materials.”
Emergency, be damned. You need these skills any time you leave your house for any reason.
Home and auto insurance companies should have classes using this little book. We should get deductions on our policies for showing proficiency in these important topics, the way you get deduction for taking driver’s ed classes.
Live long and prosper, y’all.
