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

Prayer
Cub Scout Roundtable Planning Guide

We give thanks for our families, our friends, our Cub Scouts, and today.  We hope to learn to listen with our hearts, and encourage our youth to dream. Amen

Celebrate Ability

Too often we look at others that are different and see their disabilities, not their abilities.  Many have heard or read the story of Jason McElwain, a High School Senior at Greece Athena High School in Greece, New York, who was the team manager for the Varsity Basketball Team.  Coach Jim Johnson let him suit up for the final season game and with the team well in the lead, he put him in to play.  Jason scored twenty points in just four minutes.  Jason made the national news with his feat, not because of his skill, but because he has autism.  The school was behind him and some fans came prepared with signs bearing his nickname, “J-MAC and cutouts of his face placed on Popsicle sticks.  They were not there to cheer on the greatest player in the school; they were there to cheer on a good sport.  There are many great people in history who have overcome challenges.  Here is a list of just a few:

Name-Fame-Disability

• Helen Keller-lecturer, author, advocate-Blind, deaf
• Ludvig van Beethoven-composer-Deaf
• Franklin D. Roosevelt-President-Polio, used a wheel chair
• Steven W. Hawking-physicist-ALS
• Winston Churchill-Prime Minister of England-Learning Disability
• Stevie Wonder-Musician-Blind
• Jim Abbot-Baseball Player-Born without a hand
• Marlee Matilin-Actress-Deaf
• Aristotle-philosopher-Stutterer
• Tom Dempsey-Football player-Physical Disability
• Socrates-Philosopher-Epilepsy
• Nelson Rockefeller-Governor of New York, Vice President-Dyslexia
• Bruce Jenner-Olympic Gold Medal Winner-Dyslexia
• Julius Caesar-Emperor of Rome-Epilepsy
• Rudyard Kipling-Writer-Visual Impairment
• Toulouse Lautrec-Painter-Physical Disability
• Thomas Edison-Inventor-Learning Disability
• George Washington-President-Learning Disability
• Hans Christian Anderson-Writer-Learning Disability
• Albert Einstein-Theory of Relativity-Learning Disability
• Cher-Singer, Actress-Learning Disability
• Wilma Rudolf-Olympic Track Star-Could not walk without braces until age of 11

Take Hope, Parents and Teachers
Today's Failure May Be Tomorrow's Success

Identifying talent is not an easy task.  In fact, history has recorded many instances of creative and imaginative people whose talents were not initially recognized by their contemporaries or whose talents were not evident at an early age.

• Albert Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read.
• Louis Pasteur was rated as mediocre in chemistry when he attended the Royal College.
• Werner von Braun flunked 9th grade algebra.
• Beethoven's music teacher once said of him, "As a composer, he is hopeless."
• Caruso's music teacher told him, "You can't sing, you have no voice at all."
• Madame Schumann Heink was told by the director of the Imperial Opera in Vienna that she would never be a singer and advised her to buy a sewing machine.
• Fred Waring was once rejected for his high school choral group.
• Thomas Edison was told by one of his teachers he was too stupid to learn anything.
• F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21 but his employers would not let him wait on a customer because he "didn't have enough sense."
• Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he had "no good ideas."
• Charles Schulz was once reprimanded by a high school teacher for wasting time doodling in class and told him he would never amount to anything if he kept doing that.
• Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college.
• Louisa May Alcott was told by an editor that she could never write anything that had popular appeal.
• Abraham Lincoln entered the Black Hawk War as a captain and came out a private.
• Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade.
• Apparently, after some misbehavior, Bill Cosby's mother sent a note to the fourth grade teacher explaining, "My son thinks he is funny."  (Apparently, he was right.)

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.

Ability is of little account without opportunity. Napoleon Bonaparte

Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. Malcolm S. Forbes

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. Helen Keller

As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can: by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we've been given. Mary Lou Retton

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. Mother Teresa

Behind every able man, there are always other able men. Chinese proverb

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence is the key to unlocking our potential. Liane Cardes

Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can. Lowell Thomas

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle. Phillips Brooks

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. John Wooden

No matter what the level of your ability, you have more potential than you can ever develop in a lifetime. James T. Mccay

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as true strength. Ralph Sockman

Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.

Maxwell Maltz

Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have. Zig Ziglar

CUB SCOUT DISABILITY
AWARENESS BADGE

This is apparently a badge available to Cub Scouts in the Sam Houston Area Council (SHAC).  I could find no information on it except at SHAC.  But you could use their requirements and find an appropriate patch and create your own.  Or order patches through SHAC.

• With an adult, visit an agency that works with the physically, sensory, or mentally disabled. Take a tour, if possible, and talk with the staff about the activities and/or educational programs that are conducted for their clients/members. Have agency representative sign off this activity and date it.
• *Participate in a Disability Awareness Simulation event sponsored by your pack, district, or council (must be conducted by trained or qualified adults). Complete at least six different booths/activities.
  Discuss with an adult how you felt and what limitations you had. How might you overcome those limitations you had. How might you overcome those limitations? Have signed off by adults sponsoring event.
• With an adult, look around your house and pack or den meeting place. Discuss accessibility. What are five “good” places/points? What are five places that could be changed to make it easier for handicapped persons to visit?
• Disease Awareness: Learn about three of the following diseases from an adult leader, agency, or professional:
• Asthma
• Cerebral Palsy
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Diabetes
• Epilepsy
• Heart Disease
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Osteogenisis (Brittle Bones) Imperfecta
• Spina Bifida

How do they affect your body? What would you do differently each day if you or someone you know had/has one of these diseases? Have Adult Scouter, agency representative, or professional sign off.

• Complete one of these projects:
• Set up a display about a disability you have learned about. Present it to your PACK.
• Use any visual aids, handouts, or equipment needed to demonstrate or explain.  Cubmaster sign off.
• Help a local agency with a community project that benefits a disability. Contact that agency for their requirements and current needs. Agency representative to sign off.

DARE TO CARE: BE AWARE!

Kamehameha, The Lonely One

Alapaha Area Council

Use this story now or save it for Blue and Gold in 2007.  The recommended theme for this year’s B&G is Aloha, Cub Scouts  CD

June 11 is King Kamehameha Day in Hawai'i. This official holiday was established in 1871 by King Kamehameha V to honor his grandfather, Kamehameha I. The celebration begins with a parade of floral floats, costumed riders on horseback, and marching bands that begins in downtown Honolulu and ends in Waikiki. Across from the 'Iolani Palace, the regal statue of Kamehameha I is draped in fragrant flower lei.

Legend surrounds the birth and death of Hawai'i's greatest warrior-king. Kamehameha I, also known as Kamehameha the Great, he was born in North Kohala on the island of Hawai'i, sometime between 1748 and 1761. It is said that he was born on a stormy night, during which a bright star, Kokoiki, appeared in the heavens. Some historians believe that Kokoiki refers to Haley's Comet, which was visible in the night skies in November or December of 1758.

Kahuna, or Hawaiian priests, witnessing the celestial event prophesied the birth of a child who would grow up to be a mighty chief, destined to unite all of the Hawaiian Islands. At that time, Hawaii was besieged by warring clans. The ruling ali'i (chief) of Hawaii Island ordered the infant to be put to death.

Thus the swaddled newborn was spirited away to Waipi'o Valley, where he was raised in secrecy by foster parents. He was named Pai'ea, after the hard-shelled crab found along the Hawaiian shore. Pai'ea was safe and well cared for in Waipi'o Valley.

In time, the aging ali'i no longer felt threatened by Pai'ea. After five years Pai'ea was allowed to return to his parents in Kailua-Kona. There he was given the name Kamehameha, or "The Lonely One," and finally allowed the training and care befitting a young ali'i.

Kamehameha grew up to be the great leader as the priests had foretold. The young warrior was present when his uncle Kalani'opu'u boarded Captain James Cook's ship, the HMS Discovery in 1779.  Bright, ambitious and resourceful, he used foreign weapons and skills to his advantage. In 1790 he and his warriors confiscated a small schooner, the Fair American, that was captured in retaliation for an earlier skirmish with another American vessel. The lone survivor of the Fair American was an Englishman named Isaac Davis. Davis, along with another prisoner named John Young, eventually became a trusted advisor to Kamehameha, teaching him the use of the muskets and cannon aboard the small ship.

Kamehameha soon amassed a formidable army and a huge fleet of war canoes. By 1810, the islands of Hawai'i, Maui, O'ahu and Kaua'i were under his rule, and the Hawaiian Kingdom was established.

With unification came peace and prosperity. Kamehameha the great warrior became known as a great statesman. Among his accomplishments were the establishment of trade with foreign countries and the development of the sandalwood industry. He was also known as a just ruler, introducing the Law of the Splintered Paddle, which protected the weak from the strong and insured that every man, woman and child had the right to "lie down to sleep by the roadside without fear of harm." In 1816 he introduced the Hawaiian flag, with its Union Jack in the upper corner and 8 stripes representing the eight main Hawaiian islands.

Kamehameha died on May 8, 1819 in Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawai'i. As was the ancient tradition, his bones were hidden to protect their mana, or power. To this day, no one knows where he rests.

INSTANT MEN

Heart of America Council

A Cub has grimy hands and nails; and cowlicks in his hair.

A Cub has questions:  How?  And Why?  And Who? 
And When?  And Where?

A Cub has freckles on his nose and big teeth in his grin.

A cub has grass stains on his pants; his shirttail won’t stay in.

A Cub has pockets full of junk – some fabulous collections.

A Cub has trouble hearing things like “Follow the directions.”

But Cubs aren’t all exuberance and energy and noise:

They’re “Instant Men” condensed and packaged up in little boys.

Just add some thoughtful guidance – Mix with spirit
(that’s the key)

Set the timer, say a prayer – serves one community.