Doing Your Daily Task

Anyone who was ever a Boy Scout undoubtedly knows “Scout Vespers”. It is a reverent hymn sung at the end of a meeting or around the campfire as the very last event of the day before lights out. The first few lines are “Softly falls the light of day as our campfire fades away. Silently each Scout should ask have I done my daily task”.  At my first summer camp, 11 years old, me and my friends noticed that when that last line was sung, several of the slightly older Scouts would both sing it extra loud and start to snicker. Us younger Scouts had no idea why this line seemed to be so funny.  Finally, one of my friends bravely asked one of the older Scouts why they all seemed to laugh when we sing, "Have I done my daily task?" The older Scout responded something like, "It’s whackin-off you little dork!" "But you wouldn’t know anything about that yet!" And he was right. We still had no idea what was so funny about - doing your daily task. Anonymous Scout