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Moving To Safety In response to my writing and conducting seminars on the subject of preparedness, many people have inquired as to where we were moving. The following response was included in the Controversial Questions column of Soaring Spirit magazine, issue 70, Fall 1998. Q. You've stated that Tara's spirit guide Abenda would like you to leave California and move to a safer place. Where are you moving? (Many people have asked this question.) A. Abenda would like us to move to a location along the Rocky Mountains--the nearer the Canadian border the better. She said we would survive where we are, but in time, life might become very difficult. After investigating the states of Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, and visiting several locations, we have decided not to move our primary residence out of Southern California. We have six grown children and Tara's brothers residing in the greater Los Angeles area, in addition to many friends. No one is willing to move. There were many more reasons, but I only have editorial space for a condensed explanation. For starters, Tara and I view the world from a Los Angeles perspective. We treasure the liberal thinking and live-and-let-live attitude of the population, the weather, ambiance, multi-racial population, creative atmosphere, and what has become world-class culture. This combination of lifestyle factors are not to be found elsewhere. In other words, we would be giving up children, family, friends, lifestyle and almost everything we outwardly care about for security. We came to the conclusion that security is not worth the price. And after extensive investigation, I no longer believe that such a move would necessarily result in more security. As one of many examples: We seriously investigated Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley in Western Montana, and we learned that in Montana there are more toxic chemicals released per person than anywhere else in America (50.4 pounds per capita of toxic waste, compared with a national average of 8.4 pounds per capita. Source: The Missoulian--the primary newspaer of Western Montana.) In Missoula, a paper mill sits at the head of the valley belching out smoke. After many phone calls trying to find information on local air pollution, I finally reached a man in the Health Dept. who had participated in tests conducted several years ago on children's lungs. He admitted that all the children's lungs were damaged by the pollution, "But," he went on to say, "they get better during the summer when there are no weather inversions." "How is the air in the Bitterroot Valley?" I asked. "Our tests found it to be worse than Missoula. Everybody down there uses wood-burning fireplaces." "What recent tests can you provide?" I asked. "Haven't done any in years. They're too expensive." I hung up in disbelief. Where I live, thirty miles up the coast from L.A., clean air blows in off the sea. After further investigation, we decided that neighbors with deer rifles probably posed a greater threat during hard times than LA gang bangers. Montana has a population of 879,000 with 316,000 licensed hunters. We have several friends who live in the St. Ignatius area. One of the couples is currently looking for nearby land where they will build a new house and learn farming. Twice, at different locations, while looking a parcels with a real estate agent, they've been run of at rifle-point by angry neighbors. "Why?" I asked. "They don't want anyone else moving into the area." The average income per family in the Bitterroot is under $18,000 per year. New residents living very modest lives are considered "those rich people from out of state." It is hard to believe how Californians are despised in the other western states, including Washington and Oregon. Everywhere we went, when people asked where we were from, we told them. "God, don't admit that to people around here," they would whisper. "Tell them you're from New Mexico or someplace else. And whatever you do, don't drive a car with California plates into this state." God forbid if I had told them our occupations. One of the guest speakers at our 5-Day Preparedness Intensive (April 1998 in Missoula) was an outdoorsman and a survivalist. He explained that he didn't fear the grizzly bears that regularly chewed on the cover of his hot tub or left paw prints on his windows. The mountain lions that tried to eat his llamas were part of the landscape. But he admitted to fearing people. He keeps a .357 magnum on his bed table, a shotgun beside the front door and a rifle in his truck. I looked at Tara. Her expression said it all. In every restaurant we choked on cigarette smoke. "Lung cancer could be the end times around here," my wife said. At home no one can smoke in a restaurant, bar, airport or even while standing outside in line for a movie or concert. Had we moved to this part of Montana, I might have become an activist working with the besieged environmentalists and liberal minority. And I would have tried to attract more free-thinking people to the area. Local bumper stickers shout, "Don't Californicate Montana." In their eyes that's what I would have been doing. "You'd be very popular here," Tara said, sarcastically. Spanish culture, food and people are a major part of our life in California. But during three weeks in Montana, we didn't see a single Mexican and only one black man. This said a lot we didn't like. Many people told us, "Missoula is the Berkeley of Montana." Anyone accepting that has never been to Berkeley. Basic Considerations In considering the potential of transitional times, everyone needs to explore what they think is going to happen. I personally foresee financial hard times, the probability of terrorist attacks and the potential of the US being sucked into an Arab/Israeli war. Neither Tara or I have ever feared California falling into the sea, a comet, or a pole shift. So there is no reason for us to fear living on the coast. Living near a big city is a more risky consideration. As part of our location search, we made a chart listing our most important lifestyle factors. Then we rated our location (Malibu, CA) against the places we were considering--10 being the best, 0 being the worst in each category:
In comparing our home to four areas along the Rocky Mountains, the very best score we came up with for a new location was 74 compared to 265 for Malibu. At this point Tara said, "We're not moving." I agreed. Our young children breathed a huge sigh of relief. Our older children, family and friends were delighted. Time will tell if our decision was correct. If not, we've chosen love over fear. And we will continue to prepare for transitional times. * * * * * Once this choice was made, in her next automatic writing session, Tara asked Abenda, "What do you think of the change of directions. Am I a complete fool?" The following is a portion of that writing. Abenda said, "I'm certainly not upset about your decision. Being in spirit, I do not experience the same sense of heart-felt emotion that you do. I love you and in sensing your vibration, I perceive the strength of your connections to your loved ones and to California. I always want the very best for you, but even I cannot save you from your emotional attachmentsI can only guide you through them. You will survive in Malibu--actually you will prosper there, but there will be times--some short, some longer--of danger and duress. But as Richard points out, you have your own clan, which is always steadfast, loyal and loving. And they will be of assistance in any crisis. "There are decisions to be made. You know in your heart what you are doing. I know now what you need and wish. It is again time to work together on the book. I want to start that very soon. I love you, Abenda"
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Copyright 1998 by Dick Sutphen, Malibu CA |
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