September is National Preparedness Month. Since I work for a government agency, we’re getting repeated reminders to:

• Stay Informed
   
• Make a Plan
   
• Build a Kit
   
• Get Involved
   

…all with the usual hype and rhetoric.

(I’m all for being prepared, btw, I just don’t think it should be a crazed, one-month endeavor. Shouldn’t you be prepared all of the time?)

I don’t know if it’s related to Preparedness month, but the local constabulary hijacked our public parking lot Monday morning to hold some kind of drill or training session. Most had on helmets and were holding those clear, riot-control, body shields.

All I could think of on my way out to lunch was, “Time to speed! Floor it!” With all the local police tied up playing war, there couldn’t have been a better time. I wish I could have laid down some rubber on the way out of the parking lot.

Here’s Your Prompt:

• Write a story about someone who has prepared to the nth degree for something, but still failed because he or she hadn’t considered something else.
   
• Write about a character who throws caution to the winds, and enters into a situation (or situations) without a thought for preparation.
   
• “For all your days prepare,
  And meet them ever alike:
  When you are the anvil, bear—
  When you are the hammer, strike.”

  ~ Preparedness By Edwin Markham. The Gates of Paradise and Other Poems (1928)

• If you journal, write about a time you prepared for something: an exam, a recital, a race, etc.
   
• Or, write about a time when you thought you were well prepared, but weren’t.
   
• Write about a time you thought you weren’t prepared enough–but you were.
   
• Write about a character that helps another character prepare for something, then have the character utterly fail. Failure could mean the loss of his life, his job, a limb — something totally devastating. Make the story not about the person who failed, but about the person who helped him.
   

Good Luck!