The problem of preparing to meet the onset of war and its destructiveness has never before had to be met in such a way and on such a scale as it will have to be met in the impending future. Only an ostrich-like attitude or a paralysis induced by fear will refuse to admit it into consciousness as a problem that must be thought about and whose solution must be sought. Those who dislike giving it such thought in advance will not have the time to do so when the terrible actuality does arrive. They are making a grave mistake. Everyone knows that the first places to receive bombs will be the metropolitan cities, the centres of government, the industrial towns, the ports and junctions, the military bases and aerial fields. Is it not practical wisdom therefore for those who can to withdraw from them and for those who cannot to explore every possible means to find a way out, making every possible sacrifice to do so rather than waiting passively until the fatal day? It is a tragic irony that most explosions and destructions will certainly happen in the temperate zone, where people are least fitted for primitive forms of living, whereas the least will happen in the tropical and semi-tropical zones, where people are better fitted for such living and better able to endure and survive the breakdown of civilized existence. Therefore the first physical preparation is to accustom ourselves to a simple hardy life and to train ourselves in the techniques of pioneer living.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience > Chapter 4 : World Crisis > # 407
