Yep, I agree with that... some anecdotal evidence:

I got my first "car" when I was around 13 y.o. A rust bucket '59 Impala. It hadn't run in a while, and when I got it, I was told that all it needed to run was a new battery. So, I got out my "jumper cables" and tried to start it. Starter clicked, but wouldn't turn. Pulled the starter. On the garage floor, it spun just fine when hooked up to those same cables. Hmmmmm, engine must be siezed up. So, I proceed to rip it all apart...

Why am I telling this story ? I don't know, but bottom line is that the cables I was using were cheap crap, and if I had just gone and stolen... errrrrrr, bought a battery that thing woulda cranked right up.

BUT, I sure did learn an awful lot from ripping that motor apart! Thankfully, I never really expected it to run again, and didn't need it to drive to work the next day.

It's a Learn As You Go thing, just like real life. The real "Be Prepared" I guess is to prepare yourself for the fact that something will come up that you hadn't expected, accept it and move on!