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 Prayer

Cub Scout Roundtable Planning Guide

For the Great One, who placed the stars in the heavens, we give thanks and praise.  Watch over this gathering and keep its purpose true.  Remind us of our responsibility to you and our duty to God and Country.  Keep us strong of faith and keep the values of Scouting shining in our hearts.  Amen

100 Mile High Handshake

Scouter Jim

When I think of the stars, I think of space travel.  I remember watching the live broadcast of the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon.  I remember holding my breath and praying during the return of Apollo 13.  What I don’t remember is the historic 100 Mile Handshake.  With the International Space Station, it is now common to see Astronauts and Cosmonauts working together with others from countries of the world. 

On July 17, 1975, Soyuz 19 docked together with an Apollo spacecraft.  The American crew had learned Russian and the Soviet crew had learned English.  It was the first time the very secretive Soviet space program had broadcast live a space mission.  At 3:19 PM, Apollo Commander Thomas Stafford shook the hand of Soyuz Commander, Alexei Leonov.  “Glad to see you,” Commander Stafford said to Commander Leonov in Russian.  “Glad to see you.  Very, very happy to see you,” Leonov responded in Russian.  The two crews exchanged flags and souvenirs.  Both the Soviet Communist Party General Secretary, Leonid I. Brezhnev, and President Gerald R. Ford congratulated the crews and expressed their confidence in the success of the mission. 

This event was during the middle of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States.  It has often been said by Astronauts, that from space there are no boundaries on earth.  During a time of great tumult on earth, it is well to remember a 100 Mile High Handshake, and in that take hope.

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.

The following quotes are all from Astronauts. SJ

There's a need for accepting responsibility - for a person's life and making choices that are not just ones for immediate short-term comfort. You need to make an investment, and the investment is in health and education.
Buzz Aldrin

As you look back at your life, there are just a million different things that have happened, just in the right way, to allow you to make your dreams come true. And you know,someone has all that under control.
Michael P. Anderson

When you launch in a rocket, you're not really flying that rocket. You're just sort of hanging on.
Michael P. Anderson

I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street.
Neil Armstrong

It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
Neil Armstrong

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.
Neil Armstrong

One of the great things about the universe is that it's fair.
Alan Bean

We knew it was going to be difficult to get to the moon. We didn't know how difficult.
Alan Bean

Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.
Frank Borman

I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets.
John Glenn

So, we have to get up and get pumped up for each day.
Duane G. Carey

Problems look mighty small from 150 miles up.
Roger B. Chaffee

The world itself looks cleaner and so much more beautiful. Maybe we can make it that way - the way God intended it to be - by giving everyone, eventually, that new perspective from out in space.
Roger B. Chaffee

I felt the power of God as I'd never felt it before.
James Irwin

The Earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine.
James Irwin

Be thankful for problems. If they were less difficult, someone with less ability might have your job.
James A. Lovell

There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen..
James A. Lovell

As a child I went to a circus. They had a man shot out of a cannon into a net. I became intrigued with what was going on.
Wally Schirra

When a man looks across a street, sees a pretty girl, and waves at her, that's not a rendezvous, that's a passing acquaintance. When he walks across the street and nibbles on her ear, that's a rendezvous!
Wally Schirra

You may not have any extra talent, but maybe you are just paying more attention to what you are doing.
Alan Shepard

The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter.
Sally Ride

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