Ordinary Day during SHTF Situation

Picture of Selco

Selco

I am Selco and I am from the Balkan region, and as some of you may know it was hell here from 92-95, anyway, for 1 whole year I lived and survived in a city WITHOUT: electricity, fuel, running water, food distribution, without any kind of organized law or government. The city was surrounded for 1 year and it actually was a real SHTF situation. Our allies were our enemies from one day to the next. Today I’m prepared and share my experience on this blog.

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ordinary

 

A lot of people wonder what an ‘ordinary day’ was like during the SHTF. I was thinking on this and remembered this day. I think it is a good illustration and answers this question… It’s odd to say but we were often glad of ‘ordinary days’ when not to bad things happened…

 

Rain was falling down for days, and we all felt wet and soaked with it.

Moisture was in our pores, our clothes, and kinda in our heads too.

It was kind of weather that pushes down and back the smoke from your stove, back to your room instead of through the chimney.

Holes in our roof were plugged, more or less, in the way that we managed to “channel” leaks  into numerous pots and canisters, in order to keep ourselves dry and also to collect water.

Being dirty is bad, but being dirty and smelly during several days of rainy weather is simply awful.

We dried our clothes above the stove, evaporation of dirty clothes together with smell of dirty bodies, bad “tobacco” (we “discover” some new tree leaves which we used as a substitute for tobacco), handmade oil lamps  and tea boiling on stove (we called it sometimes ‘soup’, other times ‘tea’)  made a mixture of smells which simply added to the depression of the whole situation.

In days like that alcohol intake would go up high.

When weather was fine I liked to go on second floor, remove tarp and plywood “setup” from roof hole that was made with mortar shell few months before, sit under it, watch the blue sky and drink.

Other folks would say “he is up there again waiting for mortar shell to land on his head” but it was nice and peaceful to do it, and sometimes I just did not care.

Even that weird relaxation was out of the option because of the endless rain.

In days like that we were closest to animals as we could be.

We ate potatoes for days, we managed to get it through one UN convoy that somehow entered city month ago, and it was mess to get those bags of potatoes because while UN forces tried to organized some kind of delivery system- like small bag of potatoes to each family that show up-folks simply overrun them and started to fight each other over it.

Several people get killed then, but we managed to bring home quite a stash of it.

We were happy because of the potatoes, but few days later rumors exploded that potatoes that we get were poisoned, actually it was not for human use, it was meant for seed only, or something like that and apparently they were treated with very hard chemicals.

We continued to eat it, only difference was that we were not so happy anymore about it…

And then a trade chance came to us.

It was my turn to go to visit the guy who “had some stuff for sell-trade” or at least it was information that we get it.

Good thing about this guy was the fact that I knew him little bit prior SHTF, when SHTF he had strong connections and simply had interesting stuff from time to time. He was something like “trustful” trader, he kept his stuff in his house and did trades there, which usually meant either he is stupid or very protected, and he was not stupid.

“Gogo” was his nickname, and we felt good because we are going to trade with him, because his reputation was pretty big and he (we thought) could not afford too many bad stories about trading with him.

It was as safe a trade as it could be in those days.

My relative show me our possession for trade while we were preparing for trip-it was 10 packs of Kent cigarettes, and when I saw that, it was like I saw UFO landing in backyard, with aliens bringing to us food, water, candies, and safety, and flying me then to a rock concert.

In that period cigarettes were rare, sometimes impossible to find and we were even lucky to have tobacco-which was not actually tobacco but grinded “tree” of tobacco plant, or simply all kind of tree leafs that we experimented with.

White filters Kent cigarettes in that moment were something like wet dream of every smoker.

It was pleasure to even see them, to smoke them meant pure happiness.

On my question where he get it? He answered “from some mercenaries”, and I did not want to ask more, I did not care.

We started our way to Gogo’s house around midnight, because plan was to be at the most dangerous place around 0100hrs.

On our way back we would choose a different way.

That dangerous place was big opening between houses, some 100-150 meters of space where we are completely open to the near hill where Anti Aircraft gun and few m84 machine guns were located.

Those machine gun was nicknamed “sijac smrti” which translates from my language to English as a  “death seeder” or “death bringer” or similar, and when I first time heard that nickname my thoughts were:”oh c’mon-somebody is watching too many movies, it is bombastic nickname for ordinary weapon”

Later when I was targeted first time from that weapon, when they shoot at me, I correct myself and I thought something like” death seeder? It is more, much more, it is Satan, it is hell, it is pure horror…”

And much later I also realized it is more or less common nickname for some other similar weapons.

So I built pretty fast my respect for “sijac smrti”, that shit was way too fast and deadly. It sounded like whole bunch of small deaths flying directly to you while they screaming.

 

(years later, after my SHTF ended and all things go back to some kind of let s say normal, I was watching member of Serbian elite parachute unit, while he was trying to explain his battle experience to another guy.

He and his small unit were holding position in dense woods on some hill during NATO bombing of Serbia, it was on Kosovo, and they were attacked by Albanians, Albanians were much stronger by numbers, but poorly trained, as he said, and he and his comrades did pretty well, morale was high, they were tough guys.

And then he said airplanes came. He said planes were firing from cannons destroying the hundreds years old trees like simple matches and obliterating his unit.

But he said that was not scariest thing-pure horror was sounds of that planes and cannons while they firing down on them, while he was trying to explain that he opened his eyes wide and said” it was sound like there are 10 big cows is in the air flying to you and they are screaming because they are being slaughtered”

Other guy was watching him probably not understanding what is so scary about that sound to terrified big strong elite dude.

And I said to myself “Oh man, I know that horror”)

 

Anyway we came to that open space without too much problems.

Nobody know what kind of view they had there on the hill, but during the night they fired often, without real cause, on that opening, so it was matter of luck sometimes are you going to be shot.

And somehow it was a myth that it is safest to cross it around 0100hrs.

In that time it was many openings like that in the city with different weapon and different tactics for crossing it and different myths about it how to cross it safely.

Lot of folks find God and faith on openings like that while they run or crawl over it.

Of course lot of folks end up dead there too.

I have seen guys being shot dead there while they run as fast as they could, I saw some crazy dudes walking slowly there and nothing happened, some guys were wounded and screamed there for hours with their guts hanging out until they died…

No rules.

We sat down behind the wall next to the opening and I told my relative “ok give me the cigarettes”

He said “it is not smart, it is for trade”

I did not care, so he gave me one pack, I opened it and smoked a cigarette.

It was cool to smoke it, white paper cigarette with white filter, after long time of smoking trash tobacco in any kind of paper that we could get.

It smelled like perfume to me in that moment.

I finished it and told to him “ok I can die now if I need”

He answered to me “fuck you man”

We run across that space while rain was pouring down, nothing happens, not a single shot on us.

Gogo’s house was close by after that, and nothing dangerous happened until we came to his home.

After some guy show up to us at the yard, we were allowed to enter the house with weapon, which was good feeling but not necessary good sign, but when we saw Gogo he recognizes us, and after some casual conversation which includes people that we together know we started to feel better.

We entered small room, two of us and two of them, sat down and had a drink.

 

Rakija (A strong, locally brewed spirit) was available then, so it was not a surprise when he gave us two glasses with that drink.

Numerous different kinds of that drink were circulating around, most often it was pure poison, simple not finished product from destroyed distillery diluted with water, but his was soft and nice.

Room where we sat was something like weird version of display room for customers, so we could see all kind of different stuff around in bags or open cabinets.

I saw pack of beer, even couple bottles of coke, and room strangely smelled of coffee which was high luxury in that time, everything there was set up for turning your senses “to want stuff”.

Bags full of something were lying everywhere and steel cabinet from army barracks was locked in one corner.

After some chatting he put down his hand under the table and put “Zolja” (“wasp”) single use RPG on table and said to us “this is good stuff for you folks, and it is cheap”.

I take it and said to him” it is empty man, fired, useless”

He open his mouth laugh with joy and said” ok man ok, you know that and I know that, but how many idiots outside know that? You could paint water pipe in green and state it is RPG and 90 percent of folks would trust you in dark, this looks real man.  Just fill it with something, point that thing on someone and ask right question”

“Yea, and then I can be killed from the guy who know that weapon is fired long time ago, he could choke me slowly with his bare hands, no thanks”

He said “ok ok, I agree, but here is right one” and then he pull out brand new one, same type, not used.

We said no man, we do not need weapons right now.

He said “ok ok, I have this too, I sell a lot of these and everyone is satisfied man”

Than his buddy opened wood cabinet behind his head and gave him wooden box, size of shoes box, bit smaller.

I look at my relative and look back at me with short surprised expressions.

It was wooden engraved box, pretty common in households in this region prior the war, something that you would put as a display in your living room, and when you opened it there was small wooden bird with mechanism inside, mechanism was activated by opening box, and melody would start, like birds singing…

Is he trying to sell us wooden singing bird in middle of the civil war?

Then he opened the box and push it to me.

Wooden bird was not inside, box was full-maybe some 25 bottles-vials of Penicillin. It was pretty expensive stuff.

I took one bottle and check it, expiration dates were good, Serbian manufacturer, labels looked originally “glued” on bottles.

But on the top of the bottles some of those were missing small thin metal “cap” that is covering rubber sealed “plug”(trough that rubber Penicillin powder is being diluted and aspirated into syringe)

First thought was that some those of the bottles could be used and then filled with flour.

He noticed what I am checking and said “ yeah, some of the caps are missing man, it is being transported through some rough situations before they came to me, but they are good”

I said” cool stuff man, but we do not need it” It was bit suspicious stuff and way to expensive for us at that moment.

He asked finally what we want.

And I said” Meat man!”

He leave the room and get back with one can, and I know he finally meant business because he brought only one can, without showing how much he actually has of it.

He put it on table and said” I have it, it is “Konj“(horse).

In that time different kind of canned food was circulating around, lot of expired stuff, broken, spoiled…

But popular was “horse”.

Horse had good and bad sides, but more good then bad sides.

It was canned meat, stamped label on tin was saying only something like “help from EU” or “help from UNHCR” I do not remember exactly.

Funny thing was that under the marking “type of meat” was written “meat”. Just that: “meat”.

It was kind of partially cooked meat with huge amount of grease inside that looked like snow.

If we ate grease alone it induced bad cases of diarrhea, but you could use it for cooking, melt it and use like oil for lamp, or simply folks stated that it is good to put it in places where you have pain, like an ointment (“bad knees pain – horse grease, rifle butt to the head-horse grease…  😉 )

Meat alone did not had any particular taste, it was unrecognizable, and people simply after some time said it is horse meat because nobody had clue what exactly it is.

So that can was nicknamed “horse”.

There were attempts to call it “kangaroo” but “horse” just stuck to it.

Simply it was usable.

He asked what we have, and I take out one pack of “Kent” he said “nice” without too much enthusiasm but his buddy stand up and said “where you get these man? Cool”

And that moment I knew we gonna get good deal because they are interested, they just kinda “blinked”.

He said to his buddy ”sit down man and shut up, you smoked too much pot” (Use of cannabis was rampant during the war)

And he asked how much of these we have, I answered it depends how much horse he have and bargain started.

At the end, we agree that we gonna gave him 9 packs for 15 cans.

It was great deal for us, and probably cool deal for him, because he knew folks who will appreciate those cigarettes a lot I guess.

After setting up a deal, and after we exchanged stuff we chatted for a bit and he offered me a hand made cigarette.

He gave me a small tin box with hand rolled cigarettes.

And I looked into the box, it used to be small box for cigarillos I think and I looked at the box, I liked it very much.

We carried our tobacco in all kinds of different bags, boxes, foils or whatever, but that tin box simply was “laying” down in my hand so cool. It was foreign stuff clearly.

It somehow “clicked” and perfectly lay down in my hand when I took it.

I gave it back to him asked where he got that, and he clearly saw that I “blinked” this time.

He said ”offer something, it is nice box man”

I only had that one more pack of Kent, with missing cigarette inside (which I wanted originally to keep for myself)

I pull it out from my pocket, gave it to him, he said” ok, I’ll give the cigarette box for this pack”

It was outrageous price, and I could almost feel my relative sending thoughts to me like “you fucking idiot, pack of cigarettes for tin box? We could get more meat for that…”

But I liked the box.

Then Gogo said” wait the second, cigarettes are missing from the pack, it is opened”

I said” yes, but still man, only one is missing and this is Kent real cigarettes”

Then he open drawer from the desk and pull hammer from it, we almost jumped ready for fight, but he took hammer and hit the tin box.

Then he said “ ok, one cigarette is missing in your pack, box is little bit damaged on one end now, but still working, now it is fair deal, we need to keep our business in some rules, it is reputation man!”

I was looking at him, realizing that he kinda lost it, just like most of us did in that time.

But we make the deal done, and all went good.

We get home in one piece, we ate those cans mixed with herbs and potatoes. Older member of family was happy with grease on his knees for some time…

I had a lot of bitching because of that tin box trade, but I survived.

War ended and years go by, I lost tin cigarette box, Gogo moved to Canada, and I heard he is doing apartment decorating business, and sometimes play guitar in some clubs, and have drugs issues…

Then one year, me and my wife were doing big renovation in my old house, and in some box with all kind of mess she pull out that tin box and said to me” oh it is some box for cigarettes, we gonna throw it away or you need it?”

Then she opened it, and inside she read small words that I wrote long time ago “GOGO” and date of trade.

She asked me “what is it, who is Gogo? Is it man or woman”?

From all of the explanation that I could gave her somehow words that came from my mouth were “ Yep, I could have got maybe two horses instead of that box during the war if I were smart”

“you had horses during the war? You rode it? I thought this was city siege! Where in the world you got horses?” she said looking suspiciously at me. (she spent war years in Germany without too much clue how was it here in reality)

I said smartly” no no,I didn’t ride horses, we ate it, it was good stuff”

Then she look at me with horror stating “you killed and ate horses, how could you, they are beautiful animals”

And then finally I said” you know what, forget it, it is long story, just throw away that box, it is useless”

Still, for a week or so she had suspicious looks at me from time to time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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31 Responses

  1. I still have a wooden box I made in junior high shop. My dad had just died and I was in foster care ( my mom was killed by drunk driver years before), and through all kinds of stuff I still have it like 40 years later. A piece of the past that doesn’t have any meaning other than that; just a piece of the past.

  2. Wow. Selco, thanks. So vivid. You tell stories in a manner that really helps us lucky ones (inexperienced) get our heads around what can come our way.

    I know you have long lists of topics already. But please add to the list the question “what (exsctly) are you doing today to create a trading network that could be a lifeline if shtf again?”

    Stockpiling of course. But if you get stuck again, could you be a trader somehow based on proper preplanning and relationship building?

    Thanks

  3. I thoroughly enjoyed that story. Great!

    One of the things that I repeatedly take away from your writings is an appreciation for the nearly total randomness of conflict. It is a theme that I first encountered in the movie, “Platoon”. And it brings me back to a haunting feeling that ultimately one cannot truly prepare for possible future circumstances that are totally beyond one’s control. Of course, we need to try but I see no guarantees. It makes me chuckle to imagine some of the words that I have read by some of our big shot militia types here in the U.S. that brag about their preps, readiness, and willingness for armed conflict. I have already in my life been delivered by grace and luck from severe damage and death from some very stupid behaviors. So, I feel nothing much more than vulnerability with resolve when imagining what the future may hold. The coyotes offer their lessons. I try to listen.

    ~toktomi~

    1. Thanks Toktomi!
      Randomness of everything is something that i want to show to folks who read my posts.We can be prepared in a way that we can have skills and things but to be prepared for everything is impossible because there are gonna be so many things in “motion” that simply brings lot of chaos there, lot of changing variables if you understand me.
      Very often things will just roll on without our influence, it is like that.

  4. Thanks Selco.

    A very interesting story, as you usually have about your SHTF times. Very useful, real world info to file away for ( hopefully not ) future use. I have been trying to decide if I should put prep cigarettes ( I never smoked ) for barter. I can see, like alcohol, it is a very useful item.

  5. The rumors about the potatoes, Great thing to spread if you want the value of the potatoes to drop so you can trade for them easier. Start spreading that Food X is poison and a lot of people will not eat it and then happily trade it away.

    Selco pointed out the #1 thing you need in SHTF. Brains and knowledge. knowing what you are looking at, knowing it’s details, THAT is how you survive.

    Otherwise you end up with a spent RPG or penicillin vials filled with flour.

  6. Thank you, Selco. Your first-hand stories add reality to the war that is going on around the world. I followed you long before you were famous, and saved all your posts in one Word document. I wonder what not having the Internet might do to people today?

  7. Yep, funny how the value of things changes. A cigarette might get you 50 cents or maybe a soda in trade now. Two months into a SHTF, one cigarette might get you a full sit down meal. A little single serving $3 bottle of booze during SHTF might get you sex, or a place to sleep for the night out of the weather, or maybe even some clothing. Commodities that are highly fungible because they are immediately useful/consumable will dramatically increase in value. Candy, smokes, drugs, booze, matches, batteries, these can all be prized possessions in a drastic environment. I don’t eat candy much or often, but I have a tote full of it that I replace every halloween that I would use for barter. Same with a couple cartons of cigs, and a couple cases of single serving booze bottles. Of course, you have to be able to retain these over time after SHTF. Like Gogo, security and reputation are an important part of barter. People will pay only because it is less costly than trying to take.

  8. Selco
    I am writing from Spain, the news about that war on tv and newspapers were frightening. I was a young dude 18 yrs old back then but the conflict really resonated and left something inside, people here acted as if the war was something very very far away but in fact your country is so close to Italy , only a few hours by car from France or Spain or Germany … what I mean is, people did not realize that what you suffered could happen anywhere any time here in Europe, but they simply preferred to sit happily watching sports on tv , and enjoying their lives as if nothing too important was happening right under our noses. The EU reacted so poorly, they were so afraid, they only wanted UN corps to take action there , that it opened my eyes forever with regards to what the EU actually means. Nothing. Years later we see what is going on with parts of Europe being economically destroyed (Greece, Cyprus, Portugal …. .more or less successful attempts at eroding Italy’s, Spain’s, Ireland’s economies… ) and so on , that the ugly face of the EU appeared again. Meek, mild, mean actions against their own citizens in Greece, Spain , Portugal … threats. These people are not capable of defending the EU and not only that, they are not even interested in doing so. My point is, things are not looking good in the old continent. We cannot trust our governments at all. But just mention something like this here in Spain and automatically you are labelled …. crazy and even worse “a party pooper”.
    Keep up the good work please, your stories are like pure gold compared with all the crap you get in the prepper/survivalist blogs or you tube channels from people who think in a civil war Starbucks will keep serving Frappes and Capuccinos and they will play all day long with their fancy weapons and stuff.
    Some of us are eager to learn for when TSHTF in Europe.
    Peace to all.

    1. Thank you Joe!
      Yes, frightening fact is that EU is weak and confused, it was then ,and it is today similar, but people do not want to hear bad predictions and facts.
      Stay safe!

  9. Thanks Selco,
    It is this type of story that does two things in my opinion. It gives the reader a “view” of the hardships, tactics, logistics, intuition, pain, and horror of war. Second, it gives us the “real world” types of problems and situations that, God forbid, we may have to solve in a modern civil war. I know the first thing I would do, if it happened here, is reflect back on these stories for guidance and ideas. I find these “daily life” stories the most valuable and interesting. I love the specific stuff too, but this type of story really hits home about how much there is to lose and how few of the people, that I know, would survive in an environment such as that. Please continue to give us more stories like this one, if you can? Really helpful and great reading Selco!…

  10. by the way , have you thought about compiling all this insight in a book , I am referring to the everyday real life stories like these, leaving aside a little the survivalist focus. maybe even current stories from your life today .not a manual. just an idea , your honest style is striking leaves you wanting to know more …. we are so fedup with correctness here…. you speak the truth man!

  11. I know my rakija rather well, and what’s poisonous is not under-distilled, damaged or what… it’s when they ferment wood shavings to make alcohol. Certainly when the stuff is distilled, there are bad things that come out, but nothing more poisonous than what’s already in beer. But where do you get the stuff to make beer in SHTF? When all you need is a knife and some wood to ferment to make alcohol for trade (which will make you blind or kill you if you drink it), why even bother trying to get sugar or corn or fruit?

  12. Thanks for an excellent post, yet again. In your earlier writings you have mentioned how people got cheated when bartering. Would it be possible to do a summary of the different ways to be cheated when dealing with whatever items might be in question at the time? I’m especially interested when it comes to cigarettes.

  13. Good story, Selco. I can tell you are “house-bound” from the rain… longer story, more detail than usual… you have more time to write. 😉
    And you write well. I felt like I was there with you as you experienced it. Great descriptive detail.

    I would have kept the box. When you are very old, there will be a day when you have some piece of memorabilia in your hand from the war…. you will thank God that you lived, and for your wife, family, etc. That little item, whatever it is on that day, will remind you of challenges overcome, youth enjoyed, battles lost, circumstances won, and all the amazing things your life has brought to you. In the end you will be grateful to God for the grace He has shown to you, as you prepare to meet your lost friends and family in the afterlife. You will smile and realize it’s a good day.

    God bless you, Selco. Keep on.

  14. Selco we are blessed with good rains this winter here. About one meter of rain in past three months of the winter. I just planted some potatoes because we got a few hours of sun before it starts raining all next week, and I hope they don’t rot before they grow. I am grateful for you to share this with us. The typical day during that war was truly a special memory. Thank you for all of the story but especially for the part of this story at how memories last- it made me smile. May God Bless your family,
    Redleg

  15. I learned a long time ago to stock up on things that other’s want that I don’t. In the Marines, I would take cans of dip and packs of cigarettes to the field in my pack. I was the only guy in my Platoon that didn’t smoke or dip. When others ran out, I would sell them my stash. After a month in the field, I’d have a handy stack of IOU’s to collect on when we got back to ship and everyone could access the ATM. A little ingenuity goes a long way.

  16. Thank you Selco for the information you share. It is some of the most valuable out there. You bring up a lot of things that I would not have thought of and I’m grateful to you for teaching us these things before we may ever have to go through anything even remotely close to what you did. Be safe!

  17. Rob, Beer is made from fermented grain ordinarily, and this usually has an alcohol content of 5-6%. If your still is a 100 gallon size, you’ll get at best 5-6 gallons of pure alcohol if your product is run through the still 3 or more times.. Few distillers run it through more than twice. Making whisky is labor intensive, time consuming, and as you can see, your output of product is hardly worth the effort. The most volatile substance in the beer will be methyl alcohol and acetone–natural byproducts of the fermentation process–will be the first output from the still. During Prohibition, many home distillers either didn’t know this, or care, and instead of being tossed out,it was added to the product with the results you’ve referenced. There are numerous ways to anticipate this toxic stuff dripping out of the copper tube, the simplest is to plan to throw away the first of the output. If you know the volume in pints of your still, multiply this volume by .2 and you’ll be very close–if it still smells like acetone, toss out a little more. There are other ways–using a thermometer measuring the temp of the beer in your still, and/or by measuring the alcohol by volume of the product coming out. It may sound complex, but isn’t. Man’s been doing it for millennia…

  18. Selco,
    My wife and I have been following your posts for a few years, and your posts about days in the life of SHTF could not be any more realistic. I can imagine it’s sometimes hard to recant the brutal conditions and things that you saw, but I hope it’s been therapeutic as well. You are right, people don’t want to hear the facts, and my guess is that not only are probably 97%+ of people are very deceived about what will happen over the next several years.

    The Bible scriptures are a source of prophecy that has proven 100% right, and for anyone who knows about the New World Order coming about again as a part of prophecy, it becomes apparent that things are unfolding very quickly. Open borders, moving to a single currency (cashless society), one world religion and political system, convincing man that he can become like a “god” through GRIN (Genetics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology), etc. are the hallmarks of the Globalist/Elitist Luciferian agenda that most people will fall for, hook, line, and sinker.

    Order through chaos is their mantra, and Globalist minions like George Soros and many world leaders are openly inviting civil unrest through encouraging violence through paid extremist groups while opening the floodgates for extremist Islam across Europe, America and other countries. It’s all their plan and formula that is leading to total chaos and WWIII. They create the problem and the chaos, so that the masses will welcome the Globalists to usher in “peace and safety” which means their “solution” of One World Order…

    Prepare but most importantly accept Jesus Christ as your savior, because the life on this planet is short, but only He can offer eternal life!

  19. Ed, obviously, you are entitled to your personal beliefs and opinions. However, I would question whether your Christian preaching adds any value to the discussion here. Personal religious convictions can be a bit offensive when slammed down on the table in everyone’s face like unquestionable dictates. Not everyone accepts your personal faith as fact.

    Just a thought,

    ~toktomi~

  20. Thank you Selco, for the gift of your time, and knowledge. My son, who is 16 asked me some time ago, what it will look like if or when we have conflict here. I sent him your posts. “Read these,” I told him, “and think about what he is telling you.”

    He reads each one, and we discuss them.

    Thank you, for helping teach my son. It is the best of favors, Selco.

    Elizabeth

  21. Selco,
    Your command of English is astounding for someone to whom it is not their original language. In a high school English class we were told that Joseph Konrad (Heart of Darkness) was the only widely read ESL author. You sir are right up there.

  22. I will pray for you, toktomi.That the Lord Jesus Christ opens your heart to the eternal blessings waiting for you and that you turn away from the evil of this world.

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