RE: Gear Readiness and a lesson on a snowy hike up Mt. Leconte... Another dot in the picture.
I spend a lot of time thinking about mental preparedness. Aside from having something to break glass and cut seatbelts in my car (and the basic full tank of gas, blankets, first aid kit), I rarely think about physical preparedness. This is incredibly helpful to me in considering where I'm keeping my pocket knife. I have one. It's not in my pocket, and also brings up a question maybe you can answer in another post: why don't we think about our own safety beyond mace on a keychain and the buddy system?
I'm glad you were prepared to the point you were able to help your peers. That ended up being a wonderful illustration of how preparedness serves beyond your body, and how you've taught your family to help the village. I'd love to take some preparedness classes, read on the topic or watch some videos. Will be looking for that next post.
You bring up such an excellent question regarding why we don't think about our own safety beyond the moment. While person protection is a fascinating topic in itself, we often walk that somewhat tenuous line between not wanting to be fear mongers and generate fear unnecessarily, and not working through potential scenarios where we could be at risk of bodily harm or even death due to failures in the systems surrounding us. Sounds like something I might be able to address. Thank you, as always, for your kindness and support.