Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“We must change boys from a ‘what can I get’ to a ‘what can I give’ attitude.”

The Station

Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip spanning the continent. We are travelling by train. Through the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways; city skylines and village halls; children waving at a crossing; cattle grazing on a distant hillside; smoke pouring out of a power plant; row upon row of corn and wheat; expanses of flatland giving way to rolling hillsides, mountains, and valleys.

But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into “the station.” Bands will be playing and flags will be waving. Once we get there many wonderful things will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, cursing the minutes for loitering—waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.

“When we reach the station, that will be it!” we cry. “When I’m 18!” “When I can buy a new Mercedes!” “When I’ve put my last kid through college!” “When I’ve paid off the mortgage!” “When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!”

Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no specific place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly

outdistances us.

“Relish the moment!” is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.

Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today. So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb the mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as long as we go along. The station comes soon enough.

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“The code of the knight is still the code of the gentleman today.”

Being Clean

(Have three handkerchiefs—one crumpled and soiled, one clean but not ironed, and one clean and ironed.)

Being clean and unspoiled seems like a simple thing, doesn’t it? But it’s really one of the toughest assignments in our Scout Law. Think of what a soiled handkerchief goes through in order to be clean. (Hold up the soiled handkerchief.) It gets scalded in hot water. It gets soaked in harsh soap suds and strong bleach. It gets scrubbed or tumbled around roughly in a washing machine. Then it gets thrown around in a hot clothes dryer until it’s dry. And then, the worst torture of all, it gets flattened out under a heavy, hot iron. But then when all that’s done, the handkerchief looks like this, clean and unspotted. (Hold up the clean, ironed handkerchief.)

We must be willing to go through something like that if we are to be clean and unspotted. Turning your back on everything dirty is not as simple as it sounds. It often means making yourself unpopular with some people. Not going along with the crowd can be mighty rough. Or, if you have done wrong, it’s extremely painful to admit what you’ve done and try to make it right again, to ask forgiveness. But these are the trials that purify. You see, the tough treatment in the laundry of life can help you to be clean—if you can take it.

How about it? Will you settle for being unsoiled, like this? (Hold up the clean, but unironed, handkerchief.) Or would you like being clean, orderly, and unspotted, like this? (Hold up the clean, ironed handkerchief again.) A Scout is clean.

Helicopters, 13/03/09

Chat about helicopters and parachutes

Make a helicopter – templates on card, colours, paper clips.

Parachute, soft ball(s)

Craft – make parachutes

Paper serviettes or bin liners cut to 200mm x 300mm; thread cut in 300mm lengths; dolly pegs (decorated to look like people!); chenille sticks (for arms)

Rockets, 06/03/09

Craft – make ballisters

Rocket and fin templates, colours, sellotape, selection of empty 2litre pop bottles, pre-prepared launch pads

Craft – make rockets

Film cannisters, alka selzer, water, card templates to stick on outside, colours, sellotape

To park to launch ballisters & rockets!!

Launch pads, rockets, 2litre pop bottles, rockets

Giving each Beaver Scouts approx ¼ of an alka selzer tablet to put in their film cannister rocket add a small amount of water to the cannister, put the lid back on quickly and place them, lid downwards, on the floor.  Depending on much water was put in the rocket and how big the piece of alka selzer was, the rockets will “launch”t off sooner or later, much to the amusement of the Beaver Scouts!!  Don’t stand directly over the rockets watching for them to launch otherwise it will hit you in the face!

 

For the ballisters the same pop bottles can be used more than once though they do get a bit tatty after about 6 – 8 “launches”!

Game – Beetle drive on the theme of a rocket

Dice, paper, pencils.  Component parts = fin x 2, body, nose cone, exhaust x 2

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“The real way to gain happiness is to give it to others.”

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“Scoutmasters deal with the individual boy rather than with the mass.”

Winter, 27/02/09

Make large snowmen indoors by stuffing large, white rubbish bags with newspaper

Chat - Talk about the winter and cold weather

Have an indoor snowball fight using wadded up pieces of paper or marshmallows

Make miniature igloos using marshmallows and frosting.

OR

Paint a snow scene on light blue paper using glue. Sprinkle the glue with white glitter or salt and let dry

Give everyone an ice cube and see who can find ways to melt them the fastest

Collect different pairs of gloves. Mix them up and set them in a pile. Take turns finding the matching gloves

A Quiet Hero

Barry Bonds probably hit another home run last night. Now, I know I’m going to ruffle a few feathers when I say this, but, Big deal! Another run. Yawn, hooray, ho-hum. It will be in the papers and discussed on sports talk shows, I’m sure. The guy is a real hero, right? A couple of years ago at summer camp, I met another hero. He was a very small 13-year-old. And he was a very homesick Scout.

“Big deal,” I hear someone out there echoing my comment, “a little wimp who can’t stand to leave his mommy.” That’s a pretty insensitive thing to say to a kid whose feelings are tearing him up to the point of crying in front of his friends—a kid who probably hates himself for being weak and feeling homesick. To make things worse we were at the base camp for our annual canoe trip on the rain-swollen Kippewa River in Canada and more than one boy (and leader) was having second thoughts. The homesick Scout came to me as we were loading the canoes. “Mr. Sterrett, I don’t think I want to go. I think I want to go home,” he said. When he had made similar comments the night before, the other Scouts and leaders had joked and tried to distract him. But there comes a time when a boy has to either go forward or back.

We walked away from the others and I put my hand on his shoulder. “In five minutes, we’ll be leaving,” I said, “You can be in the canoe with us or you can be in the truck going back.” And then, oh, how hard it was to do—I walked away and left him to his thoughts.

He came with us on the trip. A couple of his buddies gave him a friendly punch on his shoulder, but nobody cheered. His accomplishment wasn’t printed in the papers or discussed on talk shows. Now, Bonds—he’s okay. But to me, that Scout is a special kind of hero. The quiet kind.