By Richard A. Fleetwood - May 2001

SurvivalRing is the marriage of two words that fit so well together for all the right reasons.

Survival, in a word, is the result of living a life successfully thru all its various stages. It comes about in working through everyday life, dealing with the subtle and obscure, or the dramatic and obvious, in ways that provide a positive outcome to any incident that might otherwise have negative results to life, liberty, or health.

As almost everything in nature is, every human life is a cycle. Birth to death, cradle to grave, sperm to worm. You're born…you live…you die. Everyone does. It's what we've done for thousands of years (or millions if you're an evolutionist). That middle part of the cycle…living…that is the whole purpose of our existence. What we do with our lives, what we accomplish, what is recorded or remembered when we are gone, and what influence our short, however inconsequential earth-time has on the rest of the human race is the entire reason for being here in the first place.

These cycles, both of human procreation, and natural phenomena, always come back to the beginning of their source, a completed cycle…a ring. Each ring has a beginning and an end that connects to other life cycles, of both our ancestors, and our children, interlinking the past with the future forever. In essence, these chains of life, from the first man in existence, to the last, form the entire chain of humanity.

Now, while thinking in terms of a chain, think on the subject of strong links and weak ones. Think also of there being multiple chains connecting the beginning with the end…you know, sort of like tying down a huge blimp with multiple ropes so it won't float away in the breeze. The earth is one place, the anchor. The blimp is the other, the craft wanting freedom to fly away, but being secured until the pilot is ready to fly it where it needs to go, stays put. The multiple tie-downs keep it in place, even if a strong wind causes one or two weaker lines to break, the stronger ones keep hold of the craft until it's time to take a trip.

Humanity in its connections from one generation to the next, one family to another, one nation to all others, one race to every other, also has its strong and weak links. Strong and powerful leaders, who govern in justice and truth, form the best links, or rings, in history. Despots and traitors, power hungry madmen, and evil and conniving never do wells, form the weakest links in humanity, allowing families, cities, nations, cultures, and entire races to sink into despair, poverty, and even the annals of history as DEAD civilizations. Entire lineages of peoples have disappeared from the face of the earth in the past millennia, thanks to poor leadership.

Knowing history, its results of poor choices by people in power, or the successes of the strong links throughout history, give us, the normal everyday human being, a guide as to how WE can survive our lives successfully, and even make a difference while here, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.

It never hurts to follow examples of good leadership, and actually putting effort into finding those good examples and uniquely wise mentors will never be a waste of time. They are not hard to find…just starting looking around you, both in your neighborhood and the larger stages of life, such as government leadership, friendly word of mouth, the news of the world, or personal study. Decide what it is that is most important to YOU, such as charity, knowledge sharing, generosity, or whatever, and then look for the leading examples of folks that share those precepts.

Making YOUR ring of life a positive for the rest of the world, the rest of your family and friends, or just your own well-being is a wonderful goal. Always trying to do the right thing, helping those around you who need it, and sharing those things you do well, will let you be a great example for history to follow, whoever follows your path into the rest of humanity. Think of the big picture, the ring of humanity, with every effort to do well. Someone is watching and paying attention all the time. Let them see how to do things the right way…the positive way…the best way.

SurvivalRing…Studying Yesterday, Preparing Today, Living Tomorrow

Richard Fleetwood
Founder - SurvivalRing
May 2001