What if you had to leave?

[Gigi Kiersten]

I find it interesting that you went straight to 'end of the world' even though I didn't mean to imply that in the OP. Post-apocalyptic settings are popular in fiction, but personally I think that's much less likely to happen in real life than localized disasters like hurricanes, wildfires and such.

Do you think it's a possibity for civilization to collapse within our lifetimes?

Honestly, I don't think we are going to devolve into a Mad Max type of society (or I don't hope so), but I lived through the whole Y2K thing, and I kind of think that man really have no clue when the end will come and we are basically guessing at this point.  However, I'm the type of person who always have to have a plan b. *shrugs*

[Sefiru]

Covering religion, fiction, non-fiction, and politics; as well as my laptop and clothes. Seems reasonable.

 
Bookworm detected!

I'd have a hard time narrowing down my books to 4 or 5 ... this is why ebooks are awesome. But my pocket edition of "The Paper Bag Princess" would certainly be in my bag.

[Lionrhod]

With the many stories about wildfires on one hand and Syrian refugees on the other, this question has been on my mind recently:

What if you had to leave your home, taking only what you can carry, with the possibility that you might never return? What would you take? What would you leave behind? What would you have to leave behind? How would you go about making such decisions?

(For the sake of this thought experiment, let's say you have one suitcase per person and enough warning in which to pack it.)

I am still pondering my own answer to this question, and I'll post something about it in a day or so. In the meantime, I'm curios to hear what everyone else thinks.

Been there and done that IRL. I smelled smoke, informed my husband of it, clamped my hand around my dog's collar cause I knew he'd be a pain/control freak and led him outside. Hubby tried to put out the fire and failed, but got out safe himself. Kitty got out and went missing in the woods for 7 weeks.

Next time I'd grab the computers or at least the hard drives in time, and a copy of my ID would have been good, but really the only thing that mattered was getting hubby and critters out. It taught me a huge lesson in "what matters."

ETA: Shoes would also have been nice - I escaped barefoot and only in the clothes I was wearing. A coat would have been good too, considering it was the onset of winter.

[Sefiru]

ETA: Shoes would also have been nice - I escaped barefoot and only in the clothes I was wearing. A coat would have been good too, considering it was the onset of winter.

I've heard this mentioned a few times in discussions of emergency preparedness. I have a grab'n'go bag in case of fire, and it has a pair of compact shoes in it. Especially important for a Canadian winter, where being barefoot outdoors could result in permanent injury.

[HarpingHawke]

With the many stories about wildfires on one hand and Syrian refugees on the other, this question has been on my mind recently:

What if you had to leave your home, taking only what you can carry, with the possibility that you might never return? What would you take? What would you leave behind? What would you have to leave behind? How would you go about making such decisions?

(For the sake of this thought experiment, let's say you have one suitcase per person and enough warning in which to pack it.)

 
I've been thinking about this since it was posted, and I think I know.

Assuming my cats got out safely, I would take my laptop, my headphones, and my big blanket. I would take a few pieces of art I couldn't live without, my two favorite books, a cell phone, and enough spare clothing to last me a week. If I ended up with room after that, my knives and a stuffed animal I've had forever would go with.

If food and water were an issue, I'd leave the art, the books, and the lappy.