“So remodeling your basement is sort of an ongoing project?”  I held the door for Duane as we walked out of the hardware store.  The toasty warm summer day felt good to me, since I thought the coolness inside the store was a little too cool to suit me.

            “Yeah.  This thing’s more like off and on again,” he said, shifting the bags in his arms.  “Diane’s brother Bill is coming over this evening to do some more down there, so I guess we’re in the on again phase.”

            The sun ducked behind a cloud as we weaved through the parking lot.  Then Duane spoke up again.

            “Hey, I haven’t heard you say anything about the poll question you had on your blog last month.  How’d that come out?”

            “Interesting you should ask,” I said.  “I’m all for dispelling negative stereotypes of survivalists, and, if my informal poll is any indication, I’ve disproven another myth.”

            “What’s that?”

            “That people preparing for survival are totally isolationist and don’t care about others.”

            “Yeah?  How’s that?” We had just reached Duane’s car.  He set his bags on the ground and reached for his keys to open the trunk.

            “The question was sort of a follow-up to the one the month before, when I asked if people knew anyone preparing for survival.”

            “Yeah, I remember.”  Plastic rattled noisily as Duane hefted bags into the trunk.  “Didn’t you have about 63% who said they didn’t know anybody preparing?”

            “That’s right,” I said.  “You’ve got a good memory.  This time I asked how readers felt about those who weren’t preparing for survival.  I had a very good response from readers, but the results were sort of mixed.  The highest response was 49%  who said they try to educate other people.”

            Duane closed the trunk.  “So about half try to reach out to others.”

            “Right.  On the other hand, the next highest response was 26%, about a quarter, who said people who aren’t preparing are fools who get what they deserve.”

            Duane chuckled at that one.  “I guess those are your heartless ones.”

            “Maybe, but 21% said they pity those not preparing,” I said as I closed the door and began to fasten my seatbelt.  “If you combine that with those who try to educate, you’ve got 70%, or more than two thirds who aren’t shutting themselves off from people completely.”

            Duane started the car.  “I see what you mean about breaking the isolationist stereotype.”

            “Another interesting tidbit is that 3% selected the answer choice where they admit they’re not preparing themselves.”

            “Maybe on a blog about survival you could expect such a low number.”

            “You’re probably right,” I said.  “This month’s question is one I brought back from several months ago, back when I didn’t have nearly as many visitors to my page as I do now.”

            “I saw the question,” Duane said as he looked for oncoming traffic before pulling out of the parking lot.  “How’s that one going?”

            “That’s a deep, dark secret.  I think I know how it will turn out, but you’ll have to wait until September for the answer to that one.”

            Duane grinned as we merged with traffic.