Scoutmaster Minutes

The Eagle Scout Earned Another Badge
By C. Mark Eakin, Troop 63, Louisville, CO
On Thursday, March 3, 2005 at 1:50 pm CST in Salina, Kansas, an Eagle Scout earned a new badge one that no one had ever earned before.

After earning his Eagle, many years ago, a young man became a leader in the business world, earning a billion-dollar fortune in the commodity and futures markets of Chicago. He later became a pilot and adventurer, setting his sights on new prizes, awards, badges. When recently asked where he go this motivation, he came up with an answer: I learned my values in the Boy Scouts, and I am proud of that.

Upon saying this, Steve Fossett's eyes twinkled with pleasure. I went right through the Scouts when I was growing up in southern California. It was in the Scouts that I climbed my firs mountain, and where I learned my leadership skills between the ages of 11 and 18.

Maybe I am going after awards. You know how in the Scouts you get awards as you go on, as you learn and prove yourself to be worthy of them? Well, I think that each record I break is like earning myself a new and higher Scout award.

And I can't think of anything I would rather do.

Among his records are the first solo circumnavigation of the globe by balloon, the fastest by sailboat, the fastest, highest trip by unpowered flight in a glider, and now the first solo circumnavigation of the globe by powered aircraft.

Among the sponsor's emblems on the GlobeFlyer in which he flew solo around the world was the knotted rope and Fleur-de-Lis of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. The same one as you have on your scout uniform. Steve Fossett is an elected member of the World Scout Committee.

So, what do you do when you have earned your Eagle? You use what you have learned to become a leader, sometimes to places that few will ever follow.

On March 3, 2005, an Eagle Scout earned another badge.

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The Life of a Fire
By Greybeard
The life of a fire is like the life of a person. In its infancy, it is faint and weak and must be carefully nourished and tended. As it catches, it crawls and spreads like a child exploring its world. In its adolescence, it flares fast and bright, racing for new height. Soon, it will burn with the steady heat and light of its adulthood.

A fire, in its later life, goes dim. No longer does it have the fierce brightness of its youth. Still, it gives a gentle, steady warmth, just as an elderly man or woman shares the warmth of understanding and the steadiness of experience.

And, this is a fact of life: all things must die. The memory of those passed on lives deep and dear in our hearts. This fire will fade to cold ash, but its flame will glow in our memory.

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Words to Live By
By David Eby
Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous author of Treasure Island and Dr. Hekyl and Mr. Hyde suffered throughout his short life from respiratory illness and he spent many years looking for a climate that would cure him. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 41 and is buried on Samoa. In spite of his considerable suffering he had twelve positive attitude tips that he lived by that I would like to share with each of you. They are still incredibly good rules to live by.

• Make up your mind to be happy, learn to find pleasure in simple things.
• Make the best of your circumstances. Everyone has problems. The trick is to make laughter outweigh the tears.
• Don't take yourself too seriously. Don't think that somehow you should be protected from misfortunes that befall others.
• You can't please everybody. Don't let criticism worry you.
• Don't let your neighbor set your standards. Be yourself.
• Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.
• Don't borrow trouble. Imaginary burdens are harder to bear than the actual ones.
• Hate poisons the soul, so don't carry grudges, avoid people who make you unhappy.
• Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about new places.
• Don't hold post mortems. Don't spend your life brooding over sorrows and mistakes.
• Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.
• Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

As each of you lives your life remember his advice. Your attitude towards any given situation you encounter will almost always affect you far more than the situation. Attitude is everything in life.

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The Man in the Hole
By Mark Arend
There's an old story about a man who fell into a deep hole. He called out for help and a friend stopped. "Sorry" he said, "You're too deep; I can't reach you." and he went on. A little later another looked down but he couldn't help either. A little later yet another friend walked by. The man in the hole called out to him "I'm stuck down here-can you help me out?", and the other man jumped in the hole with him.

The first man asked him "Are you some kind of idiot? Now we're both stuck down here."

The other replied "Yes, but I've been down here before and I know the way out."

You know, from time to time we all find ourselves in a hole. We feel
trapped and can't see any way out. Sometimes we're there by accident; sometimes the hole is one we've dug ourselves into.

But no matter how hopeless it seems, you're never completely alone down there. If you look around, you can always find a friend to help you out.

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Seeing and Observing
By Mark Arend
I heard an interesting anecdote recently. A Cub Scout leader was taking his boys & their parents on a winter hike. As they walked through the snow he pointed out animal tracks and identified the animals. "That was a deer, that was a rabbit", and so on. Then they came across a pair of tracks. " Those are dog tracks" he said, "The larger ones were made by a German Shepard and the others by a smaller brown & white dog, probably some sort of terrier mix."

The boys and parents were amazed, and asked how he could tell the breed and color of a dog from just the tracks. "Well", he said, "you see how these tracks stay together. Just let your eyes follow these tracks about 50 yards down the way and you'll see those two dogs watching us."

Now all those people saw the tracks but only the leader really observed them. He saw the tracks, thought about them, looked to see where they'd come from and where they were going, and he saw the dogs that'd made them.

A hundred years ago a writer created a fictional detective-Sherlock
Holmes-who is still famous for his observational skills. If you read the stories Holmes solves the crimes because he not only sees, he observes.

Seeing is something that we're all born with. Observation is something we learn. You can all learn to observe, as well as see.

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Thomas Jefferson's "Rules of Living"
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
Never spend your money before you have it.
Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap.
Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.
We seldom repent having eaten too little.
Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
How much pain the evils have cost us that have never happened!
Take things always by the smooth handle.
When angry, count ten before you speak: if very angry, a hundred.

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Knowing Where You're Going
Years ago there was a baseball player named Yogi Berra who, while he was a pretty good player, was famous for what he said. He had a talent for mixing up his words and saying things in a funny way.

I recently ran across one of his comments. He said: "If you don't know where you're going, you might end up somewhere else". On the face of it it sounds silly, but there's some hidden wisdom there.

We all have goals. Some are short-term (to complete an assignment due on Friday) and others are long-term (to earn your Eagle). But you need more than a goal; you need to plan how you're going to reach that goal.

Without that plan you may have a goal but you don't really know where you're going. And you might end up somewhere else.

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Sparky
For Sparky, school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school, getting a grade zero. Sparky also flunked Latin, algebra and English. He didn't do much better in sports. Although he did manage to make the school's golf team, he promptly lost the only important match of the season. There was a consolation match; he lost that too.

Throughout his youth Sparky was awkward socially. He was not actually disliked by the other students; no one cared that much. He was astonished if a classmate ever said hello to him outside of school hours. There's no way to tell how he might have done at dating. Sparky never once asked a girl out in high school. He was too afraid of being turned down. Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates... everyone knew it.

So he rolled with it. Sparky had made up his mind early that if things were meant to work out, they would. Otherwise he would content himself with what appeared to be his inevitable mediocrity. However, one thing was important to Sparky -- drawing. He was proud of his artwork. Of course, no one else appreciated it. In his senior year of high school, he submitted some cartoons to the editors of the yearbook.

The cartoons were turned down. Despite this particular rejection,
Sparky was so convinced of his ability that he decided to become a professional artist. After completing high school, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios.

He was told to send some samples of his artwork, and the subject for the cartoon was suggested. Sparky drew the proposed cartoon. He spent a great deal of time on it and on all the other drawings he submitted.

Finally, the reply came from Disney Studios. He had been rejected once more. Another loss for the loser. So Sparky decided to write his own autobiography in cartoons. He described his childhood self -- a little boy loser and chronic underachiever. The cartoon character would soon become famous worldwide. For Sparky, the boy who had such lack of success in school and whose work was rejected again and again, was Charles Schultz.

He created the "Peanuts" comic strip and the little cartoon character whose kite would never fly and who never succeeded in kicking a football, Charlie Brown.

Life just finds a way for all of us, even the losers.

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Scout Shirt
Nick Trierweiler
Austin, Texas

This Scoutmaster Minute is for those of you guys who sometimes feel" conspicuous" when you wear your uniform out in public.

Last Thursday evening I had a Court of Honor to attend for a Scoutmaster friend of mine who was receiving a special award. His troop is way south of the river and I knew that I wouldn't have enough time after I got off work that evening to drive home, get dressed and then drive all the way back, so I brought my class A uniform to work with me that day on a hanger. After work, I got dressed and then, since I still had a little time before the Court of Honor and because I was a little hungry, I decided to grab a bite to eat. I went into the McDonalds and stood in line. It was pretty crowded and I noticed a table of high school guys, maybe 16 or 17 years old, behind me and to the left. As I stood in line, looking up at the menu and deciding whether I wanted combo meal #1 or #3, I heard one of these guys snicker and say, "Hey! Look at the Boy
Scout!"

There was a split second of embarrassed silence. Then, as I was turning around to say something, one of the other guys at the table said loudly," Yo! Dude! Chill out! *I'm* a Scout!" Our eyes locked for an instant, and even though we had never met before, we shared a bond of comradeship, this 17 year old and me. Then, without skipping a beat, the fellow in line in front of me, about my age, who hadn't seen me enter the restaurant, turned around and said "Me, too!" and he grinned and gave me an OA handshake. Unbelievably, one of the guys in the kitchen who was wrapping up burgers called out over the counter, "Hey, me too!" And then, not to be left out, I heard an 8-year old voice pipe up from one of the tables, "I'm a Cub Scout!"

Well, after I had paid for my burger and left, I was feeling pretty
good. You see, there are a lot more Scouts out there that we realize. We may not be in uniform all the time, but we are all Scouts just the same. We all follow the Scout Oath and the 12 points of the Scout Law. I'm very glad to be part of that brotherhood.

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Stupidity?
Mark W. Arend
Beaver Dam, WI

At a campout a while back I had to talk with one of our Scouts about something dumb he had done. He said: "Yea, I know. I'm stupid". I had to correct him because, of course, he's not stupid-none of you guys are-he had just done something stupid.

It's an important distinction. Everyone does stupid things from time to time. I've known some people with genius-level intelligence who've done some incredibly dumb things. Generally it's because they've acted on impulse, or at least not thought things through completely. That was the case with this Scout I was talking about. He's smart enough-he just tends to be a little impulsive.

The answer is to stop and think a minute before you do or say something. Try to think through the implications-the probable results-of your actions before you do something. It's not always easy-I'm still learning it myself-but eventually you'll find yourself not doing so many stupid things.

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The Man in the Hole
Mark W. Arend
Beaver Dam, WI

There's an old story about a man who fell into a deep hole. He called out for help and a friend stopped. "Sorry" he said, "You're too deep; I can't reach you." and he went on. A little later another looked down but he couldn't help either. A little later yet another friend walked by. The man in the hole called out to him "I'm stuck down here-can you help me out?", and the other man jumped in the hole with him.

The first man asked him "Are you some kind of idiot? Now we're both stuck down here."

The other replied "Yes, but I've been down here before and I know the way out."

You know, from time to time we all find ourselves in a hole. We feel
trapped and can't see any way out. Sometimes we're there by accident; sometimes the hole is one we've dug ourselves into.

But no matter how hopeless it seems, you're never completely alone down there. If you look around, you can always find a friend to help you out.

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Temptation
Mark W. Arend
Beaver Dam, WI

Guys, let me tell you about a man I used to know. I had worked with him over a period of at least 10 years so I thought I'd known him fairly well. I liked him and respected him. He retired about 5 or 6 years ago and I haven't seen much of him recently.

Then, not too long ago I was driving home-the radio was on and I was half listening to it-and I heard his name on the news. It turns out that a long time ago he did something wrong-a terrible, horrible thing-and it had just been discovered. He had given in to temptation and then tried to cover it up. Eventually it came out and he's lost the friendship and respect of a lot of people who once knew and liked him. A month or two later another friend ran into him. He said: "There's not much left of him, he looked like a walking shell of a man."

Another thing my friend said about this man was "But then each of us makes choices and some aren't very good." Guys, as you go through this life you run into temptation to do wrong things and you have to choose.

When temptation comes to you, as it does to all of us, please think
twice-think three times-before giving in. You've all had good educations in right and wrong. Don't be like my former friend who gave into temptation years ago and ended up hurting a lot of people and losing the friendship and respect of his friends and colleagues.

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Galaxy Quest
Mark W. Arend
Beaver Dam, WI

How many of you have seen the movie Galaxy Quest? It's about a group of washed-up, second-rate actors who had a popular science fiction TV series many years earlier and have been living off their short-lived fame ever since. They don't much like each other but stick together for the money.

Then, one day some aliens from another solar system lands and contacts the actor that played the captain. They've been watching the series and think that it's true; they think he really is a starship captain and the other actors are really his crew. They want him to help defeat an invading army. If you've seen the movie you know what happened. Those has-been actors become a team and turn into heroes they've portrayed on TV.

Why did that happen? How did this group of second-rate actors who didn't like each other turn into a team that accomplished something great?

There's probably a lot of reasons but I think the two the main ones were that someone believed in them and they didn't want to let them down. These aliens believed with all their heart that these actors were the real thing and could help them. And somehow these actors found in themselves the strength live up to this expectation. They didn't think they could, but they did.

I've been in this situation many times. I wasn't sure I could successfully accomplish something but I knew that others believed I could do it-they were depending on me-and I didn't want to let them down. Most of us have this ability inside us to become better than we think we are. It just takes belief in ourselves.

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Bravery
Nick Trierweiler
T513 - Austin, TX

We've talked before about the Scout Law and how it's a pretty darn good guide to live your life by. Some of those 12 points seem easier than others. Everyone here has a pretty good understanding of what it means to be "Trustworthy". But other points of the law aren't so clear sometimes. Take "Bravery". Some of you have said to me that bravery is what soldiers do in battle. Well, that's true, but bravery is a lot more than that. We can all show bravery in our everyday lives. Sometimes bravery is just doing what you need to do, without complaining, even if you don't want to, and even if it's hard.

I want you to think about the thing in your life that is giving you the most difficulty right now. Maybe it's a class in school. Maybe it's your parents. Maybe it's a friend. How are you handling it? Are you complaining or feeling sorry for yourself? Now think about the time in your entire life that has been the biggest difficulty for you. How did you handle that?

While you are thinking, I want to tell you a story. This is a true story that happened just last month. It's about a high school student who lives right here in our own community. Maybe some of you even know her - her name is Katie. Katie is smart; pretty; has lots of friends; she's Drum Major of her high school band; she gets good grades. Earlier this year everything was going pretty good for Katie. Then the doctor gave her some bad news. She had cancer. I imagine that was a pretty big shock for a teenager. How would you have handled that? Well, Katie went through the chemotherapy and radiation treatments but eventually the Doctors told her that it wasn't working, that the only way she would survive at all was if they amputated her leg. The doctors wanted to cut off her leg! She'd never again be able to run or play soccer or ride a bike the same way. Her entire life would be different. Well, Katie knew what she had to do and, together with her parents, she made an appointment for the surgery. She actually picked a day when the doctors were going to cut off her leg. She saw that day come closer and closer on her calendar. And the night before her surgery, the night before she was going to loose her leg forever - for the rest of her life, do you know what she was doing? What would you be doing? Katie was on the field with her high school band in a marching competition. Her band was counting on her and she wasn't going to let them down. That's bravery.

Think about it.

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Nails in the Fence
Author unknown

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.

His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.

Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.

He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those
nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.

He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy
now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.

You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.

"A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed.

They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us."

Show your friends how much you care.

YOU ARE A FRIEND TO OTHERS AND ALL OF US HERE ARE FRIENDS TO EACH OTHER, I'M YOUR FRIEND.

Please forgive me if I have ever left a hole.

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