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I’ll be honest.  I didn’t have much to say about Remembrance Day.  Reposting a picture of a red blossom, or reprinting that touching poem that doesn’t really rhyme. I’m not saying it’s not important to do—I’m saying others already did it, and better than I would have.

But then today, two people I care about had people in their lives die, and they shared their stories.

One of the deceased was very old.  The other was not so old.  One went quickly, the other slowly.  But both of them, it seems, lived good lives, and faced their deaths, and made their peace.  And it reminded me of something I’ve been meaning to say.

I get teased sometimes about being a Boy Scout.  About having been one, I guess I mean, though I still feel like I am a Boy Scout, because a lot of what I learned then stays with me still.

One thing that stayed with me is the Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared.”  You hear this most often these days when someone forgets to bring a cork screw with them, or needs some crazy glue, or forgets their health card or some other fiddly bit of material stuff.  “Be Prepared,” the public service ads on T.V. say, with an earthquake kit in your car or by checking your smoke detectors twice a year and on and on.

But that’s not what “Be Prepared” means.

“Be Prepared” means something far more important, a life lesson far more core than what I have in my pockets.  “Be Prepared,” means be prepared to live a good life, ready to weather the twists and turns of fate that can see you wealthy and heathy one day, and otherwise the next.

“Be Prepared” to stand up for what’s right.  Be honorable.  Know when to sacrifice and pitch in.

“Be Prepared” as you walk out your front door not just to fix a broken shoelace, but to fix a rift in a relationship.  Be prepared to reach out, to make a difference when it’s needed the most.  Don’t drift through life, because there might come a sudden situation that makes you wish you were standing firm and steady, able to reach out to someone floating past you.

“Be Prepared,” in its starkest terms, actually means “Be prepared to die.”  Live your life fully, not recklessly, and don’t leave things undone when they need doing.  Enjoy your current situation, while still striving to improve it.

I didn’t come up with this myself, of course.  Baden Powell, the founder of Scouts, wrote a note that was found among his effects in his desk after he passed away.  It was his final message to the youth he led.  In it, he said:

Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best.

“Be Prepared” in this way, to live happy and to die happy - stick to your Scout promise always - even after you have ceased to be a boy - and God help you to do it.

I bring this up on Remembrance Day, because I think that we often get caught up in the day-to-day.  We don’t always look up as we walk through life.  Thanks to the sacrifices of many who did prepare—who looked ahead and saw what needed to be done—we have that luxury.

Because of what veterans and current soldiers have they’ve done in Canada’s name, and because of what they were prepared to give up, I don’t have to be prepared each day in the same way that someone living Darfur, Chechnya, Thailand, Afghanistan or Lebanon. But I still think about it, and on a day like today, we all should.

Overheard

“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”

...who said it?

“Almost every American I know does trade large portions of his life for entertainment, hour by weeknight hour, binge by Saturday binge, Facebook check by Facebook check. I’m one of them. In the course of writing this I’ve watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards and who knows how many more West Wing episodes, and I’ve spent any number of blurred hours falling down internet rabbit holes. All instead of reading, or writing, or working, or spending real time with people I love.”

...who said it?

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”

...who said it?

“I play with variables constantly.”

...who said it?

“Only the person who has learned Continual Love coming from a heart of Gratitude/Worship can effectively deal with the problem of loneliness.”

...who said it?

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