A possible Scoutmaster's Minute
Russ Jones (CSRTJ@TTUHSC.EDU)
Tue, 28 Oct 1997 13:31:29 -0600
For what it's worth, I happened to notice a dead butterfly on the sidewalk
this morning: a victim, no doubt, of the first hard freeze of the season.
As I watched its lifeless form being lightly batted around by the cat's-paw
puffs of the morning breeze, its colorful wings (orange and black, mostly:
a Monarch, perhaps--I didn't inspect it closely enough to be certain) still
brilliant in the bright sunshine of this cloudless autumn day, I pondered
the brevity of its life and the purpose of its existence. I marveled at its
fragility and its beauty--still evident even in death--and wondered how many
flowers it had managed to help pollinate during its brief span of existence.
I wondered whether it had sensed, as it had gone about its business of
survival, that its existence had a purpose that went beyond merely providing
for itself and propagating its species; whether it had somehow known, in its
own way, that it had contributed to a much bigger world than its own, that
it had been an important part of something infinitely larger, that the fact
of its existence had made a difference.
Perhaps, in the great, grand scheme of God's infinite creation, the life of
a human being is not that much different from that of a butterfly. If we
can go through life merely bringing a little bit of beauty wherever we go
and doing what we can to help others along the way--"pollinating the
flowers" around us, so to speak--then perhaps we will have served our
purpose for being here.
I believe that the world is a better place because of the existence of that
one now-deceased butterfly, and that I am a better person for having
observed it and reflected upon it. As I honor it in my heart, I can only
hope that when my life is over, others will believe the same of me.
Yours in Scouting,
Russ Jones <csrtj@ttuhsc.edu>
Scoutmaster, Troop 575
South Plains Council, Lubbock, Texas
Eagle Scout, class of 1965
"I used to be a fox..." SC-295
"I used to be a staffer..." SC-430, SR-110, SR-206
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
