2023-17 Health Creed

This month we are starting on the Personal Fitness merit badge.  This is one of the three merit badges that will probably take you the most time as there are tracking requirements of about 3 months.  This merit badge will challenge you as you run your mile, complete your pushups, sit-ups, and or pullups.  The goal is to better your outcome each time that we have a recording day.  If we don’t treat our bodies well, they will not do well when it comes time to see how fast we can run or how many reps we can do.

Back in the 1950’s the Massachusetts State Board of Health published the following which was also included in the Scoutmaster’s Handbook during that period. It’s entitled:

Health Creed

My body is the temple of my soul, therefore,
I will keep my body clean within and without;
I will breathe pure air and I will live in the sunlight,
I will do no act that might endanger the health of others,
I will try to learn and practice the rule of healthy living,
I will work and rest and play at the right time and
in the right way, so that my mind will be strong and my
body healthy, and so that I will lead a useful life and
be an honor to my parents, to my friends, and to my country.

Let us all do our best to be physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight as we strive to keep our bodies in shape.

2023-10 Don't Get Hooked

Years ago, when I was a teenager, my father took us fishing alongside the Fall River located in Ashton Idaho.  Typically, you would use a fly on this river… but for some reason we tied a spoon onto the end of the line.  I’m guessing that Dad just wanted to see if a fish would hit his go-to lure. Now, Dad was not used to fishing on swift rivers like this with rainbows and cutthroat trout, rather, he was used to ponds in Iowa with blue gills and bass. So, with spoon tied on, I clicked my button on my trusty reel and let-er rip. All of a sudden, I felt a shot through my back as I flung the fishing lure directly at myself. My only guess is that the lure snagged on the long grass behind me, causing its flight plan to change course and embed itself through my shirt and into my skin.  Dad rushed over and was successful in removing the fishing lure. Just in case you’re wondering, yes… getting treble hooks out of your back with pliers hurts really bad! 

As we look at how to remove a fishhook from your skin, I’m reminded of how we need to pass this off as we work on Second Class along with the Fishing Merit Badge.  Another story involving a fishhook… A couple of years ago we had a guest visit our troop and assist us with the fishing and fly-fishing merit badges.  He was having a hard time getting the Scouts to understand the process of how to remove a fishhook from your skin. So… he took the object lesson to the next level and purposely stuck himself with a fishhook to have one of the Scouts perform the first aid and remove it. Instantly he had everyone’s attention.  The object lesson was a huge success, and everyone still remembers how to get a fish hook out of your skin because of what they witnessed. With that being said, I highly don’t recommend doing this on purpose. 

Let’s switch gears a little.  What are some metaphorical “hooks” out there in this world that can get you into trouble?  Smoking? Drinking? Drugs? Now, think of how these items keep you away from being physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight? Many of us have someone that we know that has attempted, in the process, or has quit smoking.  The process was a very difficult and long one for the individual that I personally know.  There are a lot of people out there that struggle with smoking and are wanting to quit daily.  The struggle is real, and it’s hard.  The most successful way to quit is to not start in the first place.  

You personally may be placed in a position where you have a friend offer you something to smoke, drink or take.  What are you going to do? What are you going to say?  In reality, the choice is yours.  But, I would raise the question of why would you start doing something that so many people are trying to quit? Each time we are placed into one of these circumstances, let us remember the Scout Oath and Law. 

2022-16 Sword in the Stone

This legend takes us back a few years… around 500 AD

A baby boy is born to King Uther and the Queen of England. During this time of history, England is not a safe place. Evil is strong in the land and many men have the desire to overthrow the king and become king themselves. For the safety of their son Arthur, the King and Queen secretly deliver the baby to Sir Ector. Ector has a son named Kay and takes care of Arthur as his own. As the boys grow, their interest begins peaking with tournaments and one day, Kay will begin competing.

Eventually the day comes when a servant of the king comes to Sir Ector’s house with news that King Uther is dead. The servant also delivers the message that all the king’s knights must go to the big stone on the road to London. So the next day Sir Ector travels to meet all the knights of England along with Merlin.

Merlin explains to all the knights that the King’s sword is in the stone and that only the king of England can take it out. One by one each of the knights attempt to pull the sword out of the stone, but all fail.

A few more years down the road and no one has pulled the sword out of the stone, and England has not had a king since Uther passed. Kay is now a knight competing in many tournaments and has realized that he has forgotten his sword as he prepares to compete in London. Arthur has been assigned to find a sword for Kay and starts searching and comes upon the sword that has been placed in the stone. Arthur pulls the sword out and rushes back to deliver the sword to Kay.

The tournament comes to a complete stop and everyone is in auh as they realize that the sword Aurthur has brought is the sword in the stone. Arthur is the new king of England!

Naturally there are those who doubt that this boy has actually pulled the sword out, so to eliminate all doubts, Merlin calls everyone to the stone and places the sword back in. Again, many attempt to pull the sword out with no success. Then Merlin asks Arthur to take the sword out of the stone. Arthur goes to the stone. He pulls the sword… and it comes out of the stone. The crowd erupts with Arthur being the new king of England.

We can only imagine the confusion with Arthur as he has grown up being a wart to Kay his whole childhood.

Many times we doubt the potential that is within us. All of us are destined and capable of becoming great and doing great things. Scouting, through Cub Scouts or ScoutsBSA, helps us grow and become good people. Such is the case with Arthur. He was in the humblest of situations, an heir to the throne working as a servant to a knight. Now… the closest thing that each of us have to a sword would be our pocket knives, which you should not try and wedge into a stone… But in reality, we can compare King Arthur’s sword to something else. The Scout Oath and Law. As we live the Oath and Law, we continue to become better scouts and better citizens of our own communities. Let us continue to grow physically, mentally, and morally for the time will shortly come when it’s our turn to prove ourselves worthy.

2022-10 Hold On Tight

A couple of weeks ago we were hiking along the Emerald Pools Trail in Zion National Park. This hike is one of my favorites as it takes you along the Virgin River where Mount Zion and Castle Dome meet together offering you breathtaking sceneries and amazing viewpoints. As you can guess from the name of the trail, there are some pools of water involved along the way. Upper Emerald Pool feeds into the Middle and then Lower Emerald Pool. The green vegetation against the red rock and waterfalls is amazing.

Along the trail from the Zion Lodge towards Lower Emerald Pool, something caught our eye. A large pine tree that looked like it was holding onto the side of the mountain. The roots for this tree are mostly exposed and shoot almost entirely horizontale into the mountain. Entangled within the root system is a massive boulder that has turned into an anchor for this tree. You can tell from just looking at this tree that water erosion is the culprit. This tree is doing everything it possibly can to be straight, tall, and strong. And it’s doing an amazing job!

As we go through life, sometimes erosion takes some of our personal foundations out from under us. Maybe you or someone you know has been diagnosed with an illness… sometimes we have disasters hit our neighborhoods… Recently our family lost an amazing father and grandfather. As we go through hard times, find something to hold on tight to. This could be your family members, your scout pack or troop, your neighbors, community, and religion. Whatever your anchor is, always hold on tight to it. In the case of our tree in Zion National Park, it continues to hold on tight to the mountain side. Even though it's going through a challenging time, it still continues to grow and stretch its branches towards the sunlight. As we go through our own challenging times, let us be like this giant pine that is continually doing it’s best.

2021-23 Aspens

Located in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest is one of the world’s largest organisms. It’s a 107 acre forest of more than 47,000 genetically identical quaking aspen trees which all stem from a single root system known as Pando.  The name Pando is Latin for “I spread”.  Aspen trees are capable of reproducing by seeds, but most of the time the trees will shoot up spouts from their roots and form a group known as “clones”. This grove of trees is capable of withstanding anything that the elements can throw at them. They can do this because they are tightly bound together in their trunks, limbs, and in their root system. Each tree draws strength from the other.  There is the occasional Aspen that will grow separate from the group, exposed to face the elements alone. Mother nature is not selective of which trees get attacked by the storms.  When the wind blows, the rain comes down, the lone tree has a greater risk of being damaged.  The group of aspens on the other hand, they stand together, strong, and protecting each other as the storm rages on.

Your patrol is a lot like this grove of aspens. The strength and teamwork you can accomplish together would be impossible for you each to do individually. Each one of you brings skills and talents that complements the other members of the patrol and troop.  

2021-02 Physically Strong

In 1867, a sickly, asthmatic (which was sometimes fatal in those days), and frail nine year old boy received some advice from his father. “Son, you have brains, but brains are of little use without the body; you have to make your body, and it lies with you to make it.” From that day forward, this young boy started to make his body, and he never ceased in making that body until the day of his death. In the home gym that his father built, the boy became a strapping young man who loved to compete in boxing, rowing, gymnastics, weightlifting and exploring the wonders of the outdoors.

After graduating from Harvard, his doctor advised him to find a desk job and avoid strenuous activity due to discovering that the Lad had a serious heart problem. Instead of taking the doctor’s advice, he went out and climbed the Matterhorn instead. In 1880 he married and entered Columbia University Law School which only lasted a year before he decided that law school was not for him and dropped out and entered public service. In 1884 both his wife and mother died on the same day causing him to grieve for two years at his ranch in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory.  There he worked as a frontier sheriff and eventually remarried. In 1886 he ran for mayor of New York City, but did not win the race. But that did not get him down because in 1886 he worked for the U.S. Civil Service Commission and in 1895 became the president of the New York City Board of Police Commissioners. It seemed like he was on the fast pass of his career as 2 years later he was named the assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy and then a year later became a colonel of the First U.S. volunteer Cavalry known as the “Rough Riders.” Shortly after, he was named Mckinley's running mate for the Presidency and won! In 1901 his running mate was shot by a deranged man and sadly died, causing this sickly, asthmatic, frail boy from New York City, to be sworn in as the 26th President of the United States at the age of 42. His name, Theodore Roosevelt.

When the world is constantly telling you that you can’t, be like President Roosevelt. Don’t let your weaknesses bring you down. Learn from them and get stronger. Each time we recite the Scout Oath, we give our honor that we will do our best to be physically strong. Because, No matter how weak or strong we are, there is always room for improvement.

2020-26 Dull Knife

I’m holding in my hand an ordinary pocketknife. maybe you own one also. And maybe you still need to receive one after you earn your whittling chip or totem chip. it's a very useful tool around camp if you keep it clean and sharp.

If you let a knife get dull and rusty, it's not only useless, it's dangerous because it won't be able to do what you wanted to do. It's very easy to cut yourself when you try to force a dull knife to do something it can't do.

The same idea applies to our bodies. If our bodies are clean and sharp, we won't become dull and rusty like a knife that has not been given good care. That's why we exercise and play strenuous games. And that's why you want to keep your body fit now and, in the years to come. Let us all always do our best to be physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.