As a youngster, I participated in the Boy Scouts of America. We were taught the Boy Scout motto, composed by Baden Powell, “Be prepared.” It was designed to help boys be prepared in mind and body to do their duty to God and country. I often now see articles, books and ads counseling people to be prepared. Like the Scout’s motto the motive seems to be to protect oneself and one’s family for a supposed coming disaster. There seems to be little focus on civic duty or responsibility to the larger community. There seems to be some wisdom in preparing for a power outage or a weather disaster, but where is the concern for the larger community? The toilet paper crisis of a year ago seemed largely set off by people buying up more than they needed to protect themselves. Grocery stores had to limit how much was sold to individuals or there would not be enough for everyone. Civic regard for each other was literally as thin as tissue paper. I do not fault anyone who does advance planning to prepare for emergencies, but there are good reasons to avoid a run on the bathroom tissue bank. As we prepare to take care of ourselves and our families, could we also think of how our preparedness might include our neighbors? If we share, perhaps, there will be enough for everyone. Perhaps that may seem idealistic, but it does remind me of Jesus telling his disciples to give the crowd something to eat. Then he broke the bread and divided the fish and afterwards baskets of left overs were taken so that there was more to share. For Jesus the pattern always seems to be to look beyond just ourselves to also consider the needs of those around us.