As the late Whitney Houston warned, children are our future. They will take care of us as we age into infinity, perhaps sustained by whatever Soylent-y foodstuffs we have by the time we've all circumvented the cold of death.

And if you break your ankle on a mountain — like world class journalist and Matt Lauer's No. 1 enemy Ann Curry did last month — the Boy Scouts will come to your rescue, forging a makeshift stretcher from nothing but the wild elements of New York's second-largest state park.

Upholding the Scout's oath to "help other people at all times," some teens from Troop and Crew 368 from Berkeley Heights, N.J. saved the day when they happened upon Curry, who had broken her ankle.

From there, the Scouts immediately and without instruction jumped into action, making a splint for her leg. But it wasn't enough — they needed to get her down the mountain safely, and she couldn't walk. Undeterred, these teens were. Scouter Rick Jurgens recounts to Scouting Magazine:

"The guys on their own, with no direction from me, start running into the woods," Jurgens said. "And she didn't know what was going on, and I didn't know what was going on either."

Turns out they were finding pieces of wood for a makeshift stretcher — the same kind they teach you to make in first-aid classes. They found two strong sticks and tied on a tarp. One of the Scouts, Andrew Stecher, got on the stretcher to test its load-bearing ability. It worked.

They set the stretcher next to Curry, her ankle really swelling up now. She slid onto it, and the Scouts picked her up. Jurgens and another adult helped guide the Scouts and point out rocks along their path.

They got her down the mountain safely, and it wasn't until someone pulled up photos of Curry on their phone that the teens realized they had saved the life of someone who was kicked off the TODAY show.

Jurgens had recognized Curry, and her iconic voice, right away. But not all the Scouts in his troop and crew are avid news-watchers. So Chris Tribuna, acting crew leader, took out his phone and showed them Curry is a national news anchor who has interviewed pretty much everyone.

The Scouts were floored by all the famous people she had interviewed, exotic assignments she had covered and adventures she had been on.

"Not all the Scouts in his troop and crew are avid news-watchers." Who even is? Curry sent the teens a nice letter afterward thanking them. Their "skill and professionalism" was a "great comfort" for her. Good job, teens.

[H/T Neetzan / Ann Curry via AP; Scouts and letter via Scouting Magazine]