THOUGHTFUL ITEMS FOR SCOUTERS

Thanks to Scouter Jim from Bountiful, Utah, who prepares this section of Baloo for us each month.  You can reach him at bobwhitejonz@juno.com or through the link to write Baloo on www.usscouts.org.   CD

Roundtable Opening Prayer

Cub Scout Roundtable Planning Guide

We give thanks for being a member of our families.  We are grateful to the ancestors that came before us and for the legacies they left to us.  May we also appreciate our extended family in Scouting and the lessons we can learn from one another.  AMEN

One note on the prayers from the CS RT Planning Guide.  They are usually adult oriented prayers.  They are intended for the RT audience.  The prayer in the CS Program Helps is intended for your Pack Meeting.  But if you like one of these, don’t hesitate to modify it so it works for the youth and adults at your pack meeting.  CD

My American Family Tree

Scouter Jim, Bountiful UT

We are all just branches of a family tree.  Who we are, is in part, due to the roots of our family tree.  I am a descendant of a humble soldier that spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania with George Washington.  The rest of his life he struggled from the effects of that winter on his body. 

I am grandson of a farm boy, called by his country to travel half way around the world to fight the Huns in France.  For several months he was missing in action after stepping on a Mustard gas bomb.  His family did not know if he was dead or alive.  During this time his mother, my great grandmother, died; never knowing her youngest son was still alive in a French hospital.

I am the nephew of seven veterans of World War II.  One set of grandparents had three stars in their window, the other had four.  These men served their country with honor, some in both theatres of the war, and returned home safely.  Many others of their comrades did not.

I am the son of a Korean War Veteran who survived the horror of the Battle of Pork Chop Hill in July 1953.  So many of his company were killed or wounded that an elite Ethiopian Unit fed him for a while.  When his church, decades later, asked him to fast and give the money he would have used for food to donate to starving people in Ethiopia.  By his donation in an attempt to repay his debt you would have thought he had planned to eat like a king that day.

These great men are the roots and branches of my family tree.  I am not any more special that any other American.  I just am lucky enough to know about my family tree.  This month is a month to celebrate our heritage, and acknowledge those who have come before.  Let us all take time to climb our Family Tree.

Quotations

Quotations contain the wisdom of the ages, and are a great source of inspiration for Cubmaster’s minutes, material for an advancement ceremony or an insightful addition to a Pack Meeting program cover.

Santa Clara Council Pow Wow Book

“Undoubtedly the mother’s influence gives as a rule the first impetus to character.  A mother cannot give that which she does not possess herself.  Therefore it is all-important that the mothers of our country should possess character of a high quality in order to inculcate it in their children.” – Lord Robert Baden-Powell

“Try to do things that will make your mother feel proud that you are her son, and never do anything that would cause her to feel grieved or ashamed.  She has done much for you; do this for her.” – Lord Robert Baden-Powell

“Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” – The Ten Commandments

 “Acting is just a way of making a living; the family is life.” - Denzel Washington

“The family you come from isn't as important as the family you're going to have.” - Ring Lardner

“If you don't know [your family's] history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.” - Michael Chrichton

“Govern a family as you would cook a small fish - very gently.” - Chinese Proverb

“Where can a person be better than in the bosom of their family?” - Marmontel Gretry

“I can get up in the morning and look myself in the mirror and my family can look at me too and that's all that matters.” - Lance Armstrong

“To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” Confucius

“A healthy family is sacred territory.” - Unknown

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”  - Jane Howard

“Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.”  - Jim Rohn

“Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts.” -  Wayne H

“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” - Dale Carnegie

“Bringing up a family should be an adventure, not an anxious discipline in which everybody is constantly graded for performance.”  - Milton R. Saperstein

 “The principle of using interactivity as a creativity-builder is not restricted to computer games. Once we become fully conscious of this principle, we can find ways to become more interactive everywhere. We can make conversations with our family and friends more interactive than they once were. The more thoughtful our questions get to be, the more interactive the conversations.” - Steve Chandler 

“The assassin and the slanderer differ only in the weapon they use; with the one it is the dagger, with the other the tongue. The latter is worse than the former, for the first only kills the body, while the other murders the reputation.” - Tyron Edwards

“My family is really boring. They have a coffee table book called 'Pictures We Took Just to Use Up the Rest of the Film.'”  - Penelope Lombard 

 “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.” - George Washington

“Your reputation is in the hands of others. That's what a reputation is. You can't control that. The only thing you can control is your character.” - Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

“Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.” - Elbert Hubbard

Families in the Bible

5 ¶ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Old Testament | Malachi 4:5 – 6, King James Version

World Take My Son By The Hand

Baltimore Area Council

You might want to try this as a Closing Ceremony.  CD

World, my son is growing up. He is starting on great adventures that will include wars, tragedy and sorrow.

To live his life in the world he has to live in, will require faith and love and courage.

So, world, I wish you would sort of take him by his young hand and teach him the things he will have to know.

Teach him…but gently, if you can.

He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not true.  Teach him that for every scoundrel, there is a hero, that for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader. Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend.

Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to lick.

Teach him the wonders of books. Give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on a green hill.

Teach him that it is far more honorable to fail then to cheat. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one else tells him they are wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is getting on the bandwagon. Teach him to listen to all men - but to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and to take only the good that comes through.

Teach him to sell his brawn and brains to the highest bidders, but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears on a howling mob - and to stand and fight if he thinks he is right.

Teach him gently, world, but don’t coddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

This is a big order, world, but see what you can do. He’s such a nice little fellow…