Make no mistake, the next several years will get tougher than today. Already the climate is wreaking havoc with the economies of whole nations – including the United States. Everyone already knows that the less financial cushion one has the more rapidly they become severely destitute.

The governments at all levels have demonstrated failure across a wide spectrum of issues, especially sustaining the health and well being of those who have life changing disasters and the normal hardship of destitute life.

Here is a crazy correlation: As AR-15s are dangerous in the public’s hands, so, too, is sharing inversely helpful to the public. Sharing is the primary weapon against adversity. Some examples:

Does the reader have a drawer full of socks? Does the reader know socks have the highest demand in charity distribution centers? Give the drawer full to a distribution center and buy a new dozen to replace them.

Does the reader have a closet full of tee shirts? (mariner confesses he has a tee shirt he bought in 1988) Give all of them to a charity distribution center and buy a new dozen to replace them.

Does the reader have a house full of shoes? Keep three pairs and give the remaining but usable shoes to a charity distribution center.

Repeat this process for every kind of clothing, even long forgotten underwear stuffed in the back of the drawer.

The alternative, if the reader is so disposed, is to purchase equal quantities new and give them to the charity distribution center.

Some local charities depend on donations of soft drink cans. Take the time to deliver them to the charity.

Sharing is a primary weapon in the battle against adversity.

Another sharing weapon is a quarterly cash donation to charity food distributors. It doesn’t need to be so big that it imposes on the reader’s budget; it’s the steady, quarterly donation that really helps.

There are large corporations in the charity business; the Salvation Army is one example. The reader’s contribution to these corporations helps but some of the donation is redirected to corporate overhead. Just as mariner believes in bottom-up politics, he also believes sharing is a personal experience with a local end-of-process deliverer.

And of course, calamity may strike friends and family. Be prepared to share.

Ancient Mariner