More Scouting Thoughts
About Scouters --
Inspirational --
About Scouters
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and excitement of your meeting,
And remember that this is one sign of good Scouting.
As far as possible without surrender
Be on good terms with all your fellow leaders.
Plan your programs carefully and cheerfully;
And listen to others,
Even the youngest Wolf Cub;
He will give you many moments of Joy.
Avoid loud and aggressive gatherings of Scouters,
Except when you're part of one.
If you compare your pack with others,
Do not become vain or bitter;
For success can only be judged by the smiles on their faces.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep in mind the Aim of the movement,
However hard to understand at times,
It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution with your pack funds;
For a Cub works hard for his dues.
But let this not blind you to what Scouting is all about..
Baden-Powell wrote it himself; Camping and the Outdoors.
Be yourself.
Especially, have fun.
Neither burn out too soon;
For in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
Those boys are depending on you.
Take kindly the counsel of your Service Team,
They will help you all that they can.
Nurture strength of spirit in case of a failure
But do not blame yourself... you have done your best,
And what you think of as failure may be super fun to your Cubs.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
Be gentle with yourself.
You are the most important person in Scouting;
We need more adults like yourself
To help the youth of this world.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
You are molding the future of this country.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
Whatever you conceive Him to be,
And whatever your labours and aspirations,
In the noisy confusion of your meeting
Keep peace with yourself.
With all its hard work and sometimes frustration,
It is still a wonderful movement.
Be cheerful
Strive for good Scouting ...
-- Thanks to Jim Speirs.
Ten Commandments of Leadership
Excerpts from a speech given by Eddie Snow, Oakland #3, at the District Assembly May 18th, "If You Were Arrested For Being A Rotarian, Would There Be Enough Evidence To Convict You?" These are St. Edward Wrestling Coach Howard Ferguson's "Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership."
1. People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered.
Love them anyway
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable .
Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest man with the smallest mind.
Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
9. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them.
Help them anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best your have anyway.
100th Psalm of Scouting
Make a joyful noise unto the world, all ye Scouters;
Serve Scouting with gladness, and join the circle of Scouting with singing.
Know that Scouting is the way;
Its lessons have made us and we are grateful;
We are its leaders, guiding young Scouts.
Enter its programs with a cheerful spirit, and offer boys your praise.
For Scouting is good!
Its lessons endure forever, and its truths to all generations.
-- Thanks to J. Corpening, ASM Troop 226, Wilmington, NC, Budfishing@aol.com
23rd Psalm of Scouting
Scouting is my life, I shall not want;
It helps me camp in green pastures, and hike beside still waters;
It restores my soul.
It leads me in paths of learning, for the sake of myself and others.
Yea, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the Woodbadge Staffer,
I have no fear;
My patrol, my friends, are with me;
Their wit and their smiles, they comfort me.
We have prepared tables in short time at the insistence of staffers;
Scouting fills my head with knowledge, my brain overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me home tonight,
And I shall dwell in the house of Scouting forever.
-- Thanks to J. Corpening, ASM Troop 226, Wilmington, NC, Budfishing@aol.com
The Green Angel
I dreamed I went to Heaven
And saw among the dead
An angel dressed in green
A hallo 'round her head
And she looked kind of funny
Midst all the glaring white
The others asked her jealously
What gave her such a right.
(She answered...)
I'm a Girl Scout Leader
And I lay no hold to fame,
But being such a person
Means more than just a name.
My jobs on earth are many;
Praises and thanks are few,
I did more work in one day
Thean ten people ought to do.
I've been a nurse, a tin can cooker
A hiker, a pathfinder,
I've also been artist,
A sailor and a bookbinder.
I taught Jills to dance,
I taught parrots to sing,
I made saints out of hoodlums,
While mama had her fling!
I walked the streets 'till my feet
Felt like a ton of brick,
Helping to sell Girl Scout cookies 'till
The mere thought made me sick.
But still it was a lot of fun;
Life was never a bore.
See, this role isn't new to me.....
"I've been an angel before."
-- Thanks to Starlite Sue - Akron, Ohio
How to Grow a Scout Leader
First plant seven rows of P's:
Promptness, perserverance, preparation, participation, presence, purity, and
performance.
Next, plant three rows of squash:
squash unfairness, squash criticism, squash indifference
Then plant seven rows of lettuce:
- Let us delegate responsibility
- Let us give assistance whenever necessary
- Let us recognize the importance of pooling ideas and encourage full and free ideas and encourage full and free discussion before decisions are made.
- Let us appreciate and respect the attitudes of other people
- Let us encourage cooperation
- Let us arrive in advance of scheduled meetings, with all materials needed
- Let *us* be prepared
No garden is complete without turnips:
Turn up for meetings
Turn up with enthusiasm
Turn up with new ideas
Turn up with a smile
The harvest is one teriffic Scout Volunteer
-- Thanks to Beverly "Sarge" Benner, Supermom@fament.com, Ozark Area Girl Scout Council
Inspirational
A Leader
from Witter Brynner's translation of Laotzu's Book of Toa, 600 BC
A leader is best
When people barely know that he exists,
Not so good when people obey and acclaim him,
Worst when they despise him.
"Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you,"
But of a good leader, who talks little,
When work is done, his aim fulfilled.
They will all say, "We did this ourselves."
The Knight of Today
by Walter MacPeek
I envy not the Knight of old
Who lived for honor true,
Who rode away to distant lands
His Great Good Turn to do.
I envy not the soldiers brave
Who kept our country free.
For chances here will prove my strength,
They ever challenge me.
I shall not long for days gone by,
My chance to serve is here.
And with my motto "Be Prepared"
My duties written clear.
The Campfire
by R. L. Stevenson
Did you ever watch the campfire
When the moon has fallen low,
And the ashes start to whiten
'Round the embers' crimson glow,
When the night sounds all around you
Making silence doubly sweet,
And a full moon high above you
That the spell may be complete?
Tell me, were you ever nearer
To the land of heart's desire,
Than when you sat there thinking
With your face turned toward the fire?
Magic Rope
by David H. McKenzie
I picked some scraps of rope apart
To see how they were made.
Most of it was twisted hemp
Yet some was cotton braid.
And from the stuff I played with
I thought aloud: "Rope size runs
To hawsers that hold battleships
of fifty thousand tons."
But there's another kind of rope
Not made by a machine
Stronger than the best steel cable.
Yet so fine it can't be seen.
I'm not talking of the kind of rope
That anybody buys
But the magic line of friendship
That holds two friendly guys.
I learned a lot of things at camp
But the best trick that I got
Was to take that line of friendship
And tie the proper knot.
Prayer of the Sportsman
by Brayley
Dear Lord, in the battle that goes on through life,
I ask but a field that is fair;
A chance that is equal with all in the strife,
A courage to strive and to dare.
If I should win, let it be by the code
With my faith and my honor held high,
If I should lose, let me stand by the road
And cheer as the winners go by.
Stick to It
by Rulon B. Stanfield
It matters not if you try and fail,
And fail, and try again;
But it matters much if you try and fail,
And fail to try again.
No Difference
Author unknown
Small as a peanut,
Big as a giant,
We're all the same size
When we turn off the light
Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We're all worth the same,
When we turn off the light.
Red, black or orange
Yellow or white,
We all look the same ,
When we turn off the light.
So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for god to just reach out
And turn off the light!
Akela, Make Me an Eagle
by Harlan G. Metcalf, adapted by Merl Whitebook
Give me the strength to stand for right
When other folks have left the fight,
Give me the courage of the eagle
Who knows that if he will, he can.
Teach me to see in every face
The good, the kind, and not the base.
Make me sincere in word and deed,
Blot out from me all shame and greed,
Help me to guard my troubled soul
By constant, active, self-control.
Clean up my thoughts, my speech, my play,
And keep me pure from day to day.
O, Akela, make of me an Eagle!
If--
by Rudyard Kipling, with a small adaptation by Merl Whitebook
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master;
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run--
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Scout, my son!
Scout Indian Prayer
Morning Star wake us, filled with joy.
To new days of growing to man from boy.
Sun, with your power, give us light.
That we can tell wrong and do what is right.
South Wind, we ask, in your gentle way.
Blow us the willingness of obey.
North Wind, we ask, live up to thy name.
Send us the strength to always be game.
East Wind, we ask, with your breath so snappy.
Fill us with knowledge of how to be happy.
West Wind, we ask, blow all that is fair.
To us, that we may always be square.
Moon, that fills the night with red light.
Guard us well while we sleep in the night.
Akela, please guide us in every way.
We'll follow your trail in work or play.
Do Something
by Baden Powell
"You should not be content with sitting down to defend
yourselves against evil habits, but should also be active in
doing good. By 'doing good' I mean making yourselves useful
and doing small kindness to other people - whether they are
friends or strangers.
It is not a difficult matter, and the best way to set about it
is to make up your mind to do at least one 'good turn' to
somebody every day, and you will soon get into the habit of
doing good turns always.
It does not matter how small the 'good turn' may be - even if
it is only to help an old woman across the street, or to say a
good word for somebody who is being badly spoke of. The great
thing is to do something."
Real Genius
Author unknown
Everyone has a spark of genius in them just waiting to be lit.
If they'll jump into things and not just sit.
Although we may not go down in history as the genius of our day.
We can help others in this world to travel life's way.
By sharing our sparks of genius with others that we know.
Thus helping ideas, along the way to grow and glow.
Remember the spark of an idea we may share with a friend.
Can be added to by others and become a genius idea in the end.
we can be happy because we helped in our small way,
And have each had a part in this thought for the day.
This Moment
Author unknown
I may never see tomorrow; there's no written guarantee,
And things that happened yesterday belong to history.
I cannot predict the future, and I cannot change the past,
I have just the present moment; I must treat it as my last.
I must use this moment wisely for it soon will pass away,
And be lost to me forever as a part of yesterday.
I must exercise compassions, help the fallen to their feet,
Be a friend unto the friendless, make an empty life complete.
I must make this moment precious for it will not come again,
And I can never be content with things that might have been.
Kind word I fail to say this day may never be unsaid,
For I know not how short may be the path that lies ahead.
The unkind things I do today may never be undone,
And friendships that I fail to win may nevermore be won.
I may not have another chance on bended knee to pray,
And thank my God with humble heart for giving me this day.
I may never see tomorrow, but this moment is my own.
It's mine to use or cast aside; the choice is mine, alone.
I have just this precious moment in the sunlight of today,
Where the dawning of tomorrow meets the dusk of yesterday.
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