For the times are a changing

[Eamonn]

This coming November if all goes well I hope to celebrate my 52nd year on the planet.

Of course I can't remember everything from the past 52 years.

I do remember when I was an Alter Boy that the Mass was in Latin. My Irish Grand-Mother never accepted or got used to this "New" Mass and seemed happy to race around her Rosary beads all through Mass.

I remember when we did away with there being twelve pennies in a shilling and twenty shillings in a pound and changed to a new decimal currency with a hundred new pence in a pound. At the time I was working after school in a hardware store and people said that they would never get used to it.

My first Scout uniforms came with garters, the bits that hung down were different colors depending on which program. When the garters went no one knew how they would keep their socks up.

Sunday afternoons at Camp outs with the Scouts (Yes I was around when English Boy Scouts, just became Scouts.) were spend with Brillo pad in hand trying to remove the soot and black stuff off aluminum Billy cans. If that was supposed to build character, my character is in great shape.

When I first became a Leader, the Troop News Letter was produced on a Gastetner Machine. Ink everywhere and really bad copies.

I know that my sell by date is fast approaching. I try really hard to try and see the world through the youth I'm supposed to be serving.

Still my cell phone lives in my car, I give out the number but forget to turn it on!! When I do remember to turn it on and carry it I end up taking photos of the inside of my pocket.

The photos I take on my digital camera are great until I try to print them, then they have a pinkish tinge to them.

I don't understand why people can be famous, just because they are famous? What did Paris Hilton ever do?

I'm not sure if it's just me but the Scouts I have seem to have the attention span of a gnat.

Their parents seem to want them on some sort of advancement fast track. No time to have fun and enjoy what the activity might be, just hurry up and get that requirement signed off and move to the next.

My hope is that I can remain relevant and not allow myself to become one of them "In my day.." types.

I don't want to become like my Grand-Mother, going to Mass and not participating, because I'm unwilling to change.

I liked and enjoyed a lot of the "Old Stuff"

I didn't enjoy the Brillo pads or the garters that cut into my legs.

In time I'll fix the printer and find out how to stop the cell phone taking photos.

I'm learning to deal with the short attention span.

I no longer care that a new penny equals 2.4 old pennies -Why should I? It's of no use.

We can look back and reminisce about the good old days. There are as we have seen organizations that still want to do things that way. I wish them well.

I don't think the kids I serve would be interested, but I'm sure that some kids are.

I might not like it, but the Scouts I serve live in the 21st Century, they are taught in a different way than I was, they see the world in a different way -Some of it in a much kinder and more forgiving way than I.

I know I don't always agree with all the changes.

But just being around these young people listening to them and learning from them, will I hope help maybe extend that "Sell By Date"

Eamonn.

[SR540Beaver]

"My hope is that I can remain relevant and not allow myself to become one of them "In my day.." types."

 

Wait a minute, didn't you just do that?

[jr56]

Here's hoping that your "sell by date" gets extended indefinately.

[rkfrance]

"We can look back and reminisce about the good old days. There are as we have seen organizations that still want to do things that way. I wish them well.

I don't think the kids I serve would be interested, but I'm sure that some kids are.

I might not like it, but the Scouts I serve live in the 21st Century, they are taught in a different way than I was, they see the world in a different way -Some of it in a much kinder and more forgiving way than I.

I know I don't always agree with all the changes."

 

Things change at an exponential rate today. To get used to something means you're already behind. Technology advances faster than the market can keep up with it.

 

The youth I serve learn many different things than I learned when I was their age. Does that make them smarter? It's debatable. Does that make me old? I hope not. Everything's relative.

 

Is it necessary to know how to take good pictures with your cell phone? (My phone doesn't have a camera.) Is it necessary to know how to build and start a fire? Is it necessary to know ...?

 

It's relative to what's important to you. Are you happy? Are you having fun at what you're doing? Are you still learning? I think that's more important.

 

The youth we serve (and especially their parents) want everything right now, if not 10 minutes ago, before they even thought about it. I don't know when things went from the world being an outside adventure world to now when the couch, tv, and computer rule the world. That's a big reason I am, and I would guess many other adults choose to be scout leaders. There's the desire to be outside, to be learning something new. To do something we may be "comfortable" with because we grew up outside.

 

That doesn't mean I don't try to stay up with new advances. I just tend to put more emphasis on the things that are important, to me.

 

As far as the BSA goes, how much is tradition and traditional methods holding us back? The programs are modernized and updated every few years now. Even if it's new, it's old. We develop new training programs and new syllabus' all the time. In the end, is it helping us to better serve our scouts? Does it help hold their interests any better? Is it worth it to the scouts?

[Eamonn]

I would hope that we as adults in the program try and make what ever it is we pass on to the youth relevant.

Teaching Leadership and never allowing them to lead would seem silly.

Teaching knots in the Scout meeting place and never using them is just as silly.

 

OJ called from School yesterday, he had forgotten his hard drive, he needed it for a mid-term exam in computer graphics.

I boldly went into the unfamiliar land known as his room. I couldn't help thinking how when I was a Lad, bedrooms were for sleeping in and maybe reading the odd book by flashlight when the lights were supposed to be turned out.

As I worked my way through the jungle and jumble of cords attached to just about every electronic device known to man. I remembered the conversation from the night before when he said he couldn't wait to return to work at camp next summer. Yes live in a tent with only a few of the devices.

It's sad that we only find out that what we are doing isn't relevant until a kid quits!!

Eamonn.

[Fuzzy Bear]

To my many SMs,

I know that wisdom does not come with age but the opportunity does present itself. Wisdom supersedes the boundaries of relevance and makes itself known and necessary for all the ages. It is in wisdom that we can find our way home and it is in wisdom that provides a way to have and keep one. Ask yourself what is it that one wants in life and what is life and where is life and the answers can only begun to be found among all the rubble of wisdom. Youth generally are not so much concerned with finding these answers because of all of the unnecessary baggage that comes with living within their world. It generally is only after they have walked to the crest of the hill that they begin to wonder what they had been doing for the last fifty years. It comes from gazing on a sunrise early or a sunset late that we can begin to appreciate how dear the gift of life has been and is and how simple it is to share our love with others. It is wisdom that helps a person to be patient and kind when the world is awash with confusion and fear. It is wisdom that is needed when sickness and death come near. It is wisdom that allows us to accept that we may never know the real mysteries of this life and it is wisdom that allows us to accept it nonetheless. fb

 

[prairie]

Ouch, your just 4.5 years older than me and I too remember when we became just "Scouts", still have one uniform shirt from those days case my memory plays up on me.

Regarding Miss Hilton, she is like a train wreck that takes years to happen, you know the result won't be pretty but looking away is tough..

[Eamonn]

Fuzzy Bear

Have to admit to not giving Wisdom much thought.

Maybe because I have never thought of myself as being wise!!

Before Walt Disney did the Jungle Book, I seem to remember that Akela was a very wise wolf. The members of the pack looked to him for leadership and guidance. I seen myself more of a Baloo!! Not as wise as Akela, but a little more fun.

Like it or not, I do think that until we prove them wrong a good many young people think and expect us old people to be wise.

They can get past us maybe not being good at everything, they like when we do let our hair down and join in the fun stuff, but they expect us to be wise.

I know I should really spin off, but I'm interested to know:

What are the qualities of wisdom?

How do you acquire them?

Can they be taught?

I'll post my thoughts later.

Eamonn.

[Aquila calva]

A different view...or two.

 

"The truth is this: no one of the gods loves wisdom [philosophen] or desires to become wise [sophs], for he is wise already. Nor does anyone else who is wise love wisdom. Neither do the ignorant love wisdom or desire to become wise, for this is the harshest thing about ignorance, that those who are neither good [agaths] nor beautiful [kals] nor sensible [phrnimos] think that they are good enough, and do not desire that which they do not think they are lacking."

 

Plato, Symposium, 203E-204A.

 

 

1 Corinthians 3:18: Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. (19) For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written [Job 5:13], "He catches the wise in their craftiness," (20) and again [Pslams 94:11], "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."

 

http://www.friesian.com/wisdom.htm

 

Proverbs. See chapters 8 and 9. Perhaps, Proverbs 9, verse 8.

 

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;

reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

 

I like.

A wise son makes a glad father. Proverbs 10:1

 

Does it take wisdom to teach our sons wisdom? Some of us will hope not.

 

One of the things I remember from being an altar boy is the Suscipiat I can still recite it from memory because when I was in the third grade and learning the Latin prayers, the older boy helping me with the Latin said The Suscipiat is the hardest one to learn. I learned it and still can say it. Ill be 57 next November.

 

I still have the scout garter straps with the red and green tassels. I wouldnt even dream of wearing them today. Is that wise?

 

A Scout is

Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, etc.and wise. A bakers dozen.

 

Or, then again, are the thoughts of the wise futile?