Very Short Scoutmaster Minutes.

[blazer63]

Patches don't make the Scout.

[dsteele]

This one requires some illumination, but it's stuck with me since High School:

 

Spoken by the Super in "One Day at a Time" on TV:

 

"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do."

 

Message:

 

The path to right isn't always clear, but there is a way.

 

Unc.

[Adrianvs]

"In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn."

 

"There are some desires that are not desirable."

 

"The voice of the special rebels and prophets, recommending discontent, should, as I have said, sound now and then suddenly, like a trumpet. But the voices of the saints and sages, recommending contentment, should sound unceasingly, like the sea."

 

"Great truths can only be forgotten and can never be falsified."

 

"Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice."

 

"It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong."

 

"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people."

 

"Marriage is a duel to the death which no man of honour should decline."

 

"It is a good sign in a nation when things are done badly. It shows that all the people are doing them. And it is bad sign in a nation when such things are done very well, for it shows that only a few experts and eccentrics are doing them, and that the nation is merely looking on."

 

"The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man."

 

"Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back."

 

"Reason is always a kind of brute force; those who appeal to the head rather than the heart, however pallid and polite, are necessarily men of violence. We speak of 'touching' a man's heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it."

 

"To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it."

 

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."

 

 

More from the incomparable G.K. Chesterton. (This message has been edited by Adrianvs)

[Adrianvs]

Such an essay would likely have to be abridged for an SM, but it is a good illustration of positive morality.

 

http://www.dur.ac.uk/martin.ward/gkc/books/chalk.html

[eagleSM]

 

"you cant ride a mans back unless its bent"

ML King

 

"a ship is safest in its own port; but that isnt what ships are made for, is it?"

Wisdom from a Sailor

 

"...never, never, never, give up..."

W Churchill

 

"leadership is action, not position"

Unknown

 

"the more i study nature, the more i am amazed at the Creator"

L Pasteur

 

"pray not for lighter burdens, but for stronger backs"

T Roosevelt

 

"if there be any truer measure of a man than by what he does, it must be by what he gives"

Robert South

 

"even a fish wouldnt get into trouble if kept his mouth shut"

Old Fishermans Proverb

 

"it takes few words to tell the truth"

Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

 

"i ams what i ams"

Popeye

[ne-iv-165]

Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking.

JC Watts

[Trevorum]

"Doing right is not always easy, but doing right is always right."

[baschram645]

Doing a Good Turn Daily is sometimes just kind word.

[Woodsmith]

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo,Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."

-H. Jackson Brown, Jr., writer (not the singer)

[watercub]

I like to tie SM's to the Scout Law and take less than 15 seconds. This one goes with Reverent, and is pertinent to the events of July 2005.

 

"We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another."

 

- Jonathan Swift

[cajuncody]

"If you can tell a wise man by the color of his skin, then mister your a better man than I"

 

and

 

"It's amazing, in the blink of the eye to finally see the light, It's amazing, when the moment arrives that you know your gonna be alright"

 

Aerosmith

 

 

"There are good ships and wood ships and ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships and my they always be"

 

"may those who love us love us, and for those who don't love us may God turn their hearts, and if he can't turn their hearts may he turn their ankles so that we may know them by their limping"

 

Irish proverbs

 

Kristi

 

 

[grampye]

A book is a mind speaking to your mind. Music is much more dangerous - music is a heart speaking to your heart.

 

When we know someones heart, their actions stop shouting at us.

 

You can act without love, but you cannot love without acting.

 

Neither the person inside nor the person outside a fence needs to move from where they are to tear it down.

 

Love doesnt stop the hurt, it just allows us to endure it.

 

Todays advances are the building blocks for tomorrows barricades

 

Commit to advancing, not to an advance.

 

Sometimes backing up is the only way we can move forward.

 

When you fish for boys, your heart makes the best bait.

 

A questioning mind and an accepting heart - not an accepting mind and a questioning heart.

 

Everyone wants desperately to fly, but most dont know it. Even fewer know how.

 

When you fly, fly for the sheer joy of flying, not to get somewhere.

 

The second most compelling reason to want to fly is having watched others do it. The first is having done it yourself.

 

Sins forgiven and failures encouraged.

 

Use things and love people - George Burns.

 

Perfectly balanced people don't move.

 

 

[grampye]

If you're going to dream, you might as well dream big - you'll probably blow it anyway, but the trip will be way more fun!

[Michael DeMar]

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.

 

Mark Twain

[Michael DeMar]

Here's another one that I like:

 

"Nobody ever had a rainbow, baby, until he had the rain."

 

Jim Croce