You Need a Tribe: Lone Wolves Don’t Make it

For many of us Star Wars fans, I’ve been enjoying the new “Book of Boba Fett” show. In one of the episodes, the two main characters have a discussion about their future & Boba Fett asks master assassin Fennec Shand to join his gang. 

Fennec Shand says “Living with the Tuskens made you soft.”

Boba: “No, it’s made me strong. You can only get so far without a tribe.”

There is this crazy myth propagated by Hollywood or in fictional books that preppers are lone wolves and that in times of danger it’s better to be alone. But the reality is you are just not going to live very long if that is the case. In fact, if you look at the most lawless parts of the world in the mean streets of any city, or even in places like Congo and Somalia, there are always gangs. These are groups of men who work and fight together for survival’s sake.  There is power in the collective, and 3 people will almost always take out 1 person, no matter how well trained they are. As Comte de Bussy-Rabutin said: “Providence is on the side of the big battalions.”

Now I do believe it’s important that you stand on your own two feet. You have flexibility and a lighter footprint. You need to build useful skills and your own value to be of use to others in a value exchange. I believe in strong individuals and solopreneurship, but even solopreneurs work with other people. That’s how you get stuff done. That’s how you can focus on what you are good at, and be complementary to one another. And always give before you take, for both practical and karmic reasons. It’s about the win-win. 

So my point is for prepping, business and life, “No (wo)Man is an island.” 

You need to make friends & build relationships across all aspects of society, and have a reputation for being trustworthy and helpful ie. delivering on what you promise. In fact, just by doing what you say you are going to do, it puts you in the top 20% of people already.

Being in a network of people matters. Your network literally is your net worth. The term community is definitely en vogue these days but it’s importance has only been highlighted by the pandemic. We are all interconnected and need others. It’s wired into us. This connection and unity in the larger mission is what energizes all of us (unless you are a sociopath). Also no matter how healthy, capable, rich or strong you are, there will always be moments where you need help from others, as I learned the hard way in 2020. 

As the African Proverb says: “If you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to travel far, travel together.”