A Mystery—The Good comes through the Hard.

[Adrianvs]

I believe in the concept of redemptive suffering. I also believe that pain is a part of life and any life training should prepare one to endure painful or unpleasant situations properly. Or, in the words of a particular BSA program, "...to preserve a cheerful spirit even in the midst of irksome tasks and weighty responsibilities." I believe that hardship strengthens the body, mind, and soul in very important ways.

 

HOWEVER, I think it would be a mistake to assume that something cannot be good without being painful or difficult. A campfire is a good thing because it is beautiful, provides light, and warms our bodies, not because it is a chore to make. Yes, there is a lesson in enduring the labor to produce the fire, but the fire does not gain its goodness from the labor or difficulty. As we remember the merits of enduring hardship, we must not forget the objective goodness in such things as beauty, fun, play, and friendship. These things are good in themselves, and we do not need an excuse to seek them or make them part of our program.

(This message has been edited by Adrianvs)

[NJCubScouter]

"Redemptive suffering," yes, that about describes my experience in reading some of the threads recently.

 

[Laurie]

NJCubScouter: Am I reading a new skit for leader training?

 

"Say, Spartacus, I never see little Johnnie at troop meetings any more." "Um, no, Agamemnon, little Johnnie was too small and weak to survive the Trials last month. It's a shame, he could tie a mean bowline. But the troop will be stronger for it when we go up against Troop 12 next week."

 

This one just cracked me up

[OldGreyEagle]

...and now a word from Scoutmasters Hans and Franz...

C'mon you little girly man scouts, you are worthless and weak, what kind of man are you?

Don't worry though because at Troop 666 sponsored by the Attila the Hun Fan Club we are here to (Altogether now everyone)

 PUMP YOU UP, JA !

[scoutldr]

This star thing is giving me a complex. How come Wheeler gets the same amount of stars as some of us veterans, if no one thinks his posts are valuable? And how can one go from 2 1/2 stars to 5 overnight, like some seem to do? Do I need to double my FOS donation, or what?

[NJCubScouter]

Hey Scoutldr, at least you're at 2.5. I went down to 1.5.

[dan]

OGE

I see you are posting more now. Hope your doing better. Good to have you back!

 

And why am I a five starer! I am not worthy!

[WHEELER]

A man must strive to attain. No one, Socrates said, is willingly deprived of the good. To win it required all that a man could give. Simonides wrote:

 

Not seen in visible presence by the eyes of men

Is Excellence, save his from whom in utmost toil

Heart-racking sweat comes, at his manhoods height.

 

Aristotle summed up the search and struggle: Excellence much labored for by the race of men.

 

The Greek Way, Edith Hamilton, Norton, 1930, 1993, pg 175.

 

 

The truth to reconcile these truths he found in the experience of men, which the men of his generation must have realized far beyond others, that pain and error have their purpose and their use: they are steps of the ladder of knowledge: (Now Edith Hamilton quotes Aeschylus.)

 

God, whose law it is that he who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget, falls drop upon the heart, and in our own despite, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.

 

Ibid, pg 156.

 

Through (St.) Paul, who was of Tarsus where the Stoics had a great school, Stoicism also lived on. It merged into Christianity with little difficulty. An early Stoic wrote, They who turn to God He hardens, and in those days Christianity too was a hard religion. A Christian was expected to give up much and to live dangerously. The Stoics found it congenial.

 

The Echo of Greece, Edith Hamilton, Norton, 1957, pg 177