Scoutmaster's Minute

The eleventh point of the Scout Law is A Scout is Clean. When most people think of clean, they think of keeping their body clean. It is obvious if a scout is physically clean with a simple glance or whiff in their direction. However, that is not the only way Baden Powell meant for a scout to be clean. He meant for a scout to be clean in mind, body and actions.

As scouts we are committed to following the Scout Law. I have noticed as a troop that we need to work on being clean in mind and actions. We have been saying things to each other or making jokes that are not appropriate.  If you would not say in front of your parents should you say in front of your friends?

 As your scout master it is my job to set the best example and I have not always done so. I commit from this day forward to do my best to set a clean example in body, mind, and actions.  Let’s all work together to live up to every part of the scout law.

On My Honor I Will Do My Best, will you?

For over 100 years, the Boy Scouts of America have trained young men and women, and adult volunteers to become citizens of character in America, it all starts with a simple promise or oath each scout takes - the first, eight words - which are, in my mind the most important - "On my honor, I will do my best" - let it be your guide for today.

Bill Cherry ASM

A scout is obedient, but how important is it to be obedient? Do rules and laws really hold us back and keep us from enjoying life? The following story illustrates how laws support our lives and make them even better.

A boy and his dad took their kite one windy day, and began to fly it. The wind was strong, and soon the kite soared higher and higher. Within just a short while, they had let out all their line, and the kite was just a small dot in the sky. The boy, caught up in the excitement of flying the kite asked his dad, “isn’t the string holding the kite down? And if we let go of the string, will the kite go even higher?” To this his dad replied, “No, it is just the opposite. It is the string that holds the kite up. If we let go of the string, the kite would fall to the ground and be lost.”

Sometimes we look at laws and rules in the same way. We think they are holding us back, when in truth they are the very things that hold us up. We have a free society because of these rules and laws, and because people respect the laws. Good rules and laws are there to protect people. A great danger is to think disobeying the laws will give us more freedom. Instead, it is through disobedience that innocent people are hurt and suffer.

Darryl Clifton SM

*Taken from The Scoutmaster minute, by, Ron Wendel

You all know the Scout Slogan "Do a good turn daily". Have you ever thought that a good turn could change the face of America or even the world? That is exactly what happened one hundred years ago on a foggy street in London, England.  William D. Boyce was lost on those streets when a young boy asked him if he could help. That boy walked Mr. Boyce to his location, when Mr. Boyce offered the young man a tip the boy said "No thank you sir I am a Scout, I won't take anything for helping" Mr. Boyce was so impressed that he learned all he could about the scouting movement in Great Britain and thought that many boys from America would want to become scouts as well.

On February 8th 1910, Mr. Boyce and a group of business men got together and founded the Boy Scouts of America (the beginning of world wide scouting). In that hundred years the scouting movement in America has seen hundreds of thousands of young men become scouts. Thousands have earned one of the most coveted youth awards attainable, the rank of Eagle Scout. Many scouts have gone on to become business leaders, leaders in society and even President of the United States. Scouting has impacted more lives than any other single youth program in America. Nearly every young man who has been a scout sees it as a very positve experience in his life.

That unknown scout in London had no idea that a single good turn would change America, let alone begin a world wide movement! Since scouting began in England over one hundred years ago the slogan "Do a Good Turn Daily". has been the corner stone of scouting. As scouts you make a commitment to do a good turn daily, are you? You never know what simple act of kindness could have an impact that could change the world.

Darryl Clifton, Scout Master