Helpful - Look for the Helpers
| Category: | Scout Law |
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| Notes: | Good when there has been a frightening event in the news or in the community, such as a storm, a fire, or an accident, or any time as a general minute on being helpful. Keep the focus on helpers, not on the details of whatever happened. Quotes Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. |
Sometimes the news is scary. A storm tears through a town. A building catches fire. Something terrible happens, and it's all anybody can talk about. It's normal to feel worried or upset when that happens.
Fred Rogers, the man behind the TV show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, used to tell a story about this. When he was a boy and saw scary things in the news, his mother would tell him, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."
And it's true. In almost every bad situation, if you look, you'll find them. The firefighters running toward the fire. The neighbors with chainsaws clearing trees off the road the morning after a storm. The volunteers handing out water. The ordinary people who stop and ask, "Are you okay? What do you need?"
Here's what I want you to think about. Scouts are supposed to be helpers. That's what "Be Prepared" and "A Scout is helpful" are all about. Every first aid skill you learn, every service project you work on, every time you practice staying calm, you're getting ready to be one of the people Mister Rogers was talking about.
Most of you won't run into a burning building, and you shouldn't. But you might be the one who knows first aid when someone gets hurt. You might be the one who helps a neighbor clean up after a storm, or who sits with a scared little kid until their parents arrive.
Someday, when something scary happens, somebody is going to look for the helpers. Let them find you.