The Singing Scoutmaster: Be Prepared For What?

What are the two words inscribed upon the Second Class Badge? "Be prepared." The Scout Motto.

There is a story of a Scout in Oklahoma. His younger sister went too near a gas heater and instantly her clothes were in flames. The father and this 13-year-old Scout rushed up the stairs to try to help. Remembering his first-aid work, the Scout knew what to do and he did it immediately. He grabbed a small rug and rolled the screaming child in it. He had been prepared. In a moment he had smothered the flames and prevented serious injury to his sister.

"Thank God my son is a Scout," the boy's father told the Scoutmaster. "He knew what to do while I stood confused."

That's what it means to be prepared. Once someone asked Baden-Powell, "Be prepared for what?" "Why, for any old thing!" he replied.