Panic!

Yesterday at church, a lady about my age described her panic as she was driving her brand-new car home from Edmonton one night and suddenly realized she had no idea where to find the light switch!

As she told this story, two things came to mind. One was the Boy Scout motto, "Be Prepared." ... good advice in almost any situation.

The other thing was a personal experience from a long time ago. My friend Gary Mitchell was allowed to take a few friends from Edgewater to Radium Hot Springs in his parents' brand new 1959 Pontiac. You may remember these. They were slightly smaller than a supertanker and had double tail fins on both sides. In their day that was class!!!

It was dark, so he was driving with the headlights on, and all went well until it started raining. As we were driving through Sinclair canyon (a snaky course between solid rock walls), he reached down to turn on the wipers and accidentally turned off the headlights! With scant seconds to live, our short lives flashed through our minds. Fortunately, Gary found the light switch and turned the lights on, in time to avoid the rock walls of the canyon.


The point of the story is that it is important to plan ahead and know what to do in an emergency situation, before the emergency occurs. In other words, to "Be Prepared", because if we have decided beforehand what we are going to do, there is less need to panic, and we can make reasoned response to a looming emergency.