Scoutmaster munutes - part 1

I found a couple of items I am planning on using as Scoutmaster
minutes in the Chicago Tribune today. It always amazes me when
Scoutmasters tell me they can't think of something to say for their
minute - - that can be the most important part of a Troop meeting.
I regularly go through the 12 points of the Scout Law, and then
dissect the Scout Oath - - I'm planning on taking on the 11 points
of leadership found in Wood Badge and Junior Leader Training
next - - that's enough material for 6 months of SM minutes.
Anyhow, this editorial from the Trib would relate to brave and
reverent.

YiS,
John Economides
SM, T55, Downers Grove, IL
' . . . and a good old Bear too . . . '

----------------------------------------------------------------------
MARTYRDOM AT COLUMBINE HIGH

Yes. No. It depends.
We live in an "it depends" kind of world and, Bill Clinton's
egregious example notwithstanding, that probably isn't a bad thing.
The world isn't all black and white, and absolutists--moral, political
or other--tend quickly to become absolutely intolerant and intolerable.
Nevertheless, it is heartening when, from time to time, an example
of true moral heroism shows up, a case in which someone has the
wisdom to recognize a moral imperative and the fortitude to act upon it.
When the case involves someone as young and courageous as Cassie
Bernall, it is more than heartening; it is humbling and awe-inspiring.
Cassie was one of the victims of last week's slaughter at Columbine
High School in Littleton, Colo. She also was a born-again Christian,
described in all the news accounts as never without her Bible.
Her family and friends now describe her as a martyr--in the classic
sense of someone who has suffered rather than renounce her faith--
and it's hard to disagree.
As the two young killers rampaged cold-bloodedly through the high
school, witnesses said, they came upon Cassie. "Do you believe in God?"
she was asked.
With a gun aimed at her head and carnage all around, she must
have known it was the devil speaking. And yet she didn't say "No," or even
"It depends." "Yes," she replied, and the gunman pulled the trigger.
Cassie's was not the only such act of heroism during the Columbine
massacre. There was the older brother who draped his body over that of
his sister and a friend, ready to take bullets himself to save them.
There was the wounded boy who grabbed a bomb and tossed it clear of
a group of fellow students. There was the teacher, Dave Sanders, who gave
up his life trying to save the lives of his students.
Each of these examples is powerful and moving--and disturbing in the
salutary
way a compelling moral challenge inevitably disturbs the complacent spirit.
But Cassie's is perhaps the most compelling, because it is the simplest.
She could have lied--but didn't. She could have fudged or quibbled--but
didn't.
She simply said "Yes."

Copyright Chicago Tribune

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