Free When All Hell Breaks Loose by Cody Lundin Page B

them, practically throwing themselves at individuals and organizations who will act on their behalf so as to avoid making a personal commitment to their lives. Taking responsibility for oneself has been sacrificed upon the altar of dependence upon others, and insurance companies, corporate health care systems, politicians, banks, and anyone else who stands to make a profit are all too willing to keep up the illusion. This is not holding to the spirit upon which our dear country was founded.

    The Rainbow Family: An Example of Selfless Service
without the Hierarchal Headache
     
"W E GOVERN OURSELVES, RATHER THAN EACH OTHER, BY OBSERVING THE CONSENSUS OF PEACEFUL RESPECT ."
    —R AINBOW F AMILY MEMBER
     
    Through the haze of self-induced conformity and powerlessness, there have always been those who have bucked the trend and refused to give up their personal power, ideals, and freedom. We typically call them rebels or other labels thrown about by the mainstream media.
    One such group is known as the Rainbow Family of Living Light. My rationale for using this, at first glance, "fringe hippy group" as an example should be obvious to those versed in the art of true survival. Unless you have ample altruistic planning and cooperation to complement your preparedness, you are not prepared, and a Lord of the Flies -type nightmare scenario can quickly come to fruition. Unless you are willing to toe the line and do your share in a group crisis—possibly much more than your share—for the benefit of the whole, you might not survive your emergency. Unless you are committed to the welfare of your tribe by having a healthy respect for taking care of your own needs, you're dead weight. In tribal societies the world over, if you were repeatedly a pain in the butt and refused self-correction and responsibility, you were either killed or banished. Centuries ago, going it alone usually meant death. In a strict survival sense, if the single foot protests and will not move and walk forward at the expense of the body as a whole, it must be cut off to save the organism.
    I have witnessed the greater Rainbow Family effectively manage more than 20,000 people, some with altered states of consciousness, within a remote wilderness setting, needing no outside assistance whatsoever. Perhaps even more astonishing, they did so using no formal inner hierarchy, as the Rainbow Family has no designated leadership.
    According to the Rainbow Family's unofficial Web site, the Family didn't begin at any specific time and has never existed as a formal organization. To quote one source, "In many ways, it is a fundamental human expression: the tendency of people to gather together in a natural place and express themselves in ways that come naturally to them, to live and let live, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us." There are no membership qualifications or fees or dues of any kind. The gatherings are nonaligned both spiritually and politically. They are noncommercial, everyone is welcome, free of charge, and there are virtually no rules other than one of peaceful respect.

    The Rainbow Family's unconventional leadership style was initially honed from hard lessons learned at the many megaconcerts and gatherings of the late 1960s and early 1970s, where skills for coping with and caring for the feeding of tens of thousands of people at a time were necessary.
    Rainbow "leadership" has no individual leader. There is no leader/follower decision-making process or hierarchy. All decision-making power takes place at a main council that is open to all. All individuals hold equal power and all decisions are made only by unanimous consent. Although tedious at times, this method makes it impossible for authorities, individuals, groups on a power trip, or others with a self-serving agenda to intimidate or manipulate individuals to the disadvantage of the greater tribe.
    The council works for the best interest of the whole. Decisions from past councils are weighed