The Savage Beneath: Survival at the Edge of Civilisation
In an earlier blog, I wrote that the savage and the poet are one and the same, in reference to a quote credited to Thucydides
"The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
The warrior conquers kingdoms. The scholar holds them.
Jordan Peterson once said something along the lines, that in every interaction between men, lies the underlying threat of violence. A truth often masked by laws and political correctness. Our modern life has lulled us into a dangerous complacency, an ignorance of the fragile systems that sustain us.
I approach this from a lens of someone with thirteen years of experience in the Western Australian mining industry, where the boundary between survival is as thin as a diesel generator's fuel line. In the unforgiving deserts of West Australia, modern comforts exist only through the technological lifeline of diesel engines that power site grids, water supplies, communications, and food storage.
On mining camp sites in the middle of nowhere, these machines are the sole barrier between organized society and absolute chaos. The average mine worker, much like the typical urban dweller, remains blissfully unaware of this precious balance. A blown fuse, a delay in fuel delivery, and this stable environment quickly dissolves into primal struggle.
Over the years, I have developed a commitment to constantly improve my physical fitness. The reason is brutally simple. I have a wild imagination and tend to think in extremes. Survival is not a theoretical concept. The average worker is unprepared. Overweight, weak, essentially cannon fodder in an extreme scenario. When I think of potential generator failures, I see a population incapable of surviving this brutal landscape.
I refuse to be a victim. I will not fall to nature as easily as my peers. In a collapse, physical capability becomes the ultimate currency. Those drowning in victim narratives, become dead weight. A threat to collective survival.
The pen may be mightier than the sword....but only while the lights stay on.
