Free Enterprise - Principle 1

Principle 1: Essentials that people need for physical survival are food, water, clothes and shelter.

All people everywhere need food, clothes and shelter to survive. In the drawing we see bread, water and the man holding a fish. With those essentials he can survive. Food is considered to be necessary to nourish the human body. Generally, people who don’t eat get very hungry. Eventually, if they don’t have food and water, they die. Clothes are also needed. Without clothes, in most climates, one suffers from exposure to heat and to cold. Life without clothes, for most people, is very uncomfortable and in some climates it is impossible. Shelter is like clothes, it keeps the elements off the human body. It holds in the heat in cold climates and keeps out the heat in hot climates. It keeps the rain off ur bodies our food and other supplies.

What would it be like to wake up and be all wet from rain and also be very cold? You would be freezing!! The wind blows and you feel even colder. Feeling hungry and wanting breakfast, you look at your flour and discover it is spoiled because it got wet  and set too long. You need a shelter! You need a place to live that keeps the rain and snow out, holds in the heat and is comfortable for sleeping. In modern times, it is considered impossible to live without food, water, clothes and shelter.

Story

The parents sat visiting happily in the passenger compartment of the huge airliner as they flew over the rugged mountains to their holiday vacation. The children were safely seated in the crash proof capsule of this specially built airplane. Everyone knew the security capsule was constructed to withstand even the worst of crash landings. The children knew they were safe.

Then they heard a loud bang and the plane lurched!  They heard another explosion and the capsule shook violently.

Oh no! They were going down. It all happened so fast! The children were screaming and crying. They were in free fall. Then they felt the impact of the crash! There was only silence.

It was several minutes before they all came to and exited the security capsule, but when they did it was obvious that all the parents were dead ... and the plane was on fire. They had to get out quickly!

“This way!” Andre yelled, and the others followed him out ... out into the cold and snow.  They flopped down on the snow. They just sat there and looked at the snow, and at each other—their minds were trying to catch up with all that had just happened. They were stunned ... and they were freezing cold. Their light summer clothes were no match for these frigid temperatures. With all the snow, the fires were beginning to burn out.

Finally, it was Marcella who set her feelings aside and tried to think sensibly. She spoke.  “Only a few hours of daylight left ... we’ve got to collect food and water and prepare a shelter to protect us from the wet snow and the cold. Look for blankets; we can use them for temporary clothes.”

Some of the children were still crouched in the snow, crying. But the others set to work.  David and Kovrich were dragging seats to the enclosure near the tail section and making them into walls. When they covered the walls made from seats with plastic tarps, it kept the wind and the snow out. Someone found a large pot and filled it with snow. With the burning coals they had managed to gather from the still smoldering fires, they soon had a fire going that melted the snow into water. The fire also made heat inside of the shelter.  The warmth felt wonderful!

Marcella and Kovrich made sure all the food they could find was placed inside the shelter to keep it from being destroyed by weather or eaten by forest animals during the night.  At least for now, they had food and water, shelter, and clothes made from blankets. They were not freezing and they were not hungry. They fell asleep.

Activity: Ask each student in turn to say how long it has been since they last ate food. After a few have answered it will be obvious that it has only been a matter of hours, not days! Lead them in a discussion of what happens when humans don’t eat, and what happens when they don’t drink water. Lead them to the conclusion ... “Food and water are essential for survival.”

You can ask, “Why do humans wear clothes?” After a few giggles, you can talk about frost bite in cold climates, sunburn in hot climates, and the comfort that comes from keeping the body warm and also dry. While there some exceptions, most locations in the world require clothes for survival. The same is true of shelter.  You might then say, “All over the world, people spend a lot of their money on water, food, clothes and shelter. They are essential for survival.”

You can suggest that, with their parents’ permission, they may want to skip some meals for the purpose of noticing how uncomfortable it is to go without food. If some students do this they can report back to the class what they experienced.
Humans have many needs/wants, but these four are essential for survival. 

A final question might be: (ask for a show of hands) “Who here thinks they can survive six months without food, water, clothes and shelter?” The majority will indicate they could not survive. You can say, “The majority is correct!”