Fuzzy Bear

My answer to the Irish law was that carrying a rock or a stick generally meant that they were to be used regarding English policies not easily forgotten nor forgiven. As far a sheath knives go, I have a 6 inch Scout sheath knife that I carry in my pack for preparation of a few meals. I carry a Swiss Army knife on my belt. I suppose that if I fall there is a danger of the toothpick falling out and me not finding it again. FB

What does the National Anthem mean to everyone right here? One night the Scouts were saying the Pledge of Allegiance and I saw/heard a few goofing around during the ceremony. Afterwards, I walked forward and asked everyone what the flag meant to them. Nobody said anything; they kind of knew what was coming because my voice was pitched. I started with the field of clear blue sky with the many stars and states in the heavens and then pointed to the white curtain of peace that we all share and that it could only have been bought with the red blood of so many that had fallen in battle to keep it and that I personally knew a few that had paid that price so that we could share freedom and it was to this we were pledging our allegiance. As a youth, I didn't have much of an idea about what it meant either. It was only later after so many I had known had given of themselves in war that I could finally appreciate the price. As an adult, I think about the payment almost every day. It is sometimes with great sadness that I share in what we have. My hope is that we may one day find another way to pay for it.

The National Anthem should rightfully be sung in all languages due to the fact that this country is made up of people from everywhere. English is one of the languages spoken by people from only a few of those lands. It is wonderful that we acknowledge no specific language but embrace the whole world. Historically people have conquered by force, legions, language and religion. There is nothing like America now or ever before. We don't conquer; we don't make slaves or plunder all of the resources from those we fight. We fight for freedom and then we sing about it. As long as people are singing about freedom, then it will always be a valuable ideal, one that many hate and strive to bury but known as a language that everyone understands. FB

Kids have so many choices today that we should be surprised at how well Scouting is doing when compared to all of the competition. Even if March was a drag on membership, June Scout Camp will give it a shot in the arm. The Scouts were on the bus ready to go to camp. A few kids from the neighborhood came riding by on their small bicycles and sighted a Scout in uniform. They began to circle the bus while calling out names and making fun of the Scouts. I came from inside the Church and stepped up inside and noticed the Scouts laying low, trying not to be seen. I put it together and stepped back outside and asked the cyclists what they were going to be doing for the next week. They didn't say anything; they just stopped and looked at me. I told them that we were going to camp where we would be cooking, hiking, riding horses, sleeping outside, and having some great fun. I invited them to our next meeting. They quietly rode off. As I got back on the bus, I noticed that the Scouts had straightened back up. I guess we all just need to be reminded occasionally. FB

I may be jumping in over my head (*12 feet is more than enough) but Risk Management is of the highest priority/safety first and should always be given a green light when anything may be out of order in this kind of pamphlet. This is the document that will be held up in court and read aloud to a jury to show that somehow we are putting kids in danger by the very wording, the context, the vocabulary, the grade level, whether it is current and if it reflects the best advice or NOT. It may be more of a hiney saving technique that could be appreciated by most ambulance chasing lawyers. Give the BSA credit where it is due. They publish more books, more paper, more forms, more pamphlets, kill more trees than any other organization on the face of the earth. They are probably not attempting to make a few bucks but most likely are trying to save a few. FB

Using G_ _'s name without a reason is like cutting down a tree to watch it fall. It is useless words that swirl around us that creates confusion and disturbs the peace of the world, inside and out. If we are to connect with our Creator, then we must empty our minds of clutter and go in peace and quietness and only then is there understanding. FB

Thanks Vicki for your acknowledgement. It looks like the woods have changed a little since I left. My family and I moved to another part of town. We have an acre or two of trees, a smaller but more usable home; we built a shop and repaired the area under the house for storage. I moved my rock collection, several tons, to be used for walks and garden areas. Work has been hectic. The paperwork mill got out of control but is slowly coming back into focus. I have written a couple of papers and presented. We are still holding our breath until the other place sells. I suppose the changes are numerous here also. I think it was magic. FB

I am getting older and I believe that I am on the threshold of qualifying for the boring story squad. As a new adult Scouter, I was Scouting six and seven days a week. I felt like I was doing a world of good for everyone. People even thought that I was getting paid and I felt I had been "born again" into a kind of Scouting Minister. When my personal life finally hit the wall, it was little more than a bug against the window incident to most that knew me. Everyone else must have expected it and I didn't even see it coming. I faded and then slowly over a few years I returned but on a much more subdued level. Scouting for me will always be magic for so many different reasons. I can count back to many Cub Day Camps and Scout Camps and the people, friends, and Scouting family that I worked with but no longer see. They will remain in my memory and stories as I make new friends in what I believe to be the best organization anywhere. I love it and I continue to learn from it. I especially like the magic. FB

Cursing... the opposite of being courteous or patient or being kind and alert; a way to express one's worth and trust in doing the right thing or being brave in the light of a bad situation; doing one's best when it hurts the most or being constantly loyal, or doing one's duty or showing reverence to one's God; obedience to the belief that being helpful and friendly is important or a show of thrift of word usage during difficult times by putting on a cheerful face and expressing the essence of being an honorable Scout. A minute's worth of thoughts, FB

Ok, here is a Republican from Brent's home town to use as an example of what we are talking about in these last few pages. I ask each of you to put on your critical thinking hats instead of your critical hats and make a decision on this person's worth as a politician. Is this person left, right or in the center? Is he trying to help people or hurt people? How do we weigh his worth? The Gentleman from Georgia, Dr. Newt Leroy Gingrich, "Contract with America," he served as chairman of the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego. Gingrich has been called the "Hottest Entrepreneur in America", Man of the Year in 1995, co-founder of the Earning By Learning reading program for at-risk children. He has recently been involved in fund-raising efforts for the Paralympics, Cobb YWCA Battered Women's Shelter, Georgia Breast Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, North Fulton and Cobb Senior Service Centers, Juvenile Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, Spina Bifida Association, Georgia Autism Society, Children's Wish Foundation, Zoo Atlanta, Boys' Town, Cobb County and North Fulton Habitat for Humanity, Atlanta Respite Center, Georgia Public Television, Good Samaritan Clinic, Boy Scouts of America, Roswell Vietnam War Memorial, March of Dimes, Heart Association and United Cerebral Palsy. He sponsored a Habitat for Humanity home in Cobb County in 1995, including raising all funds for the home and participating in its construction and "Newt Gingrich: Shining Knight of the Post-Reagan Right". In April of 1995, he was honored as March of Dime's "Georgia Citizen of the Year." While still in high school, Gingrich started to date his geometry teacher, Jackie Battley. On June 19, 1962, he married her. Their first child was born the following year. In 1980, Gingrich asked his first wife for a divorce. In an infamous incident, Gingrich tried to discuss the terms of his divorce with his wife while she was in a hospital bed recovering from surgery for uterine cancer. In February 1981, the divorce was finalized, and in August 1981, he married his second wife, Marianne Ginther. During the 1990s round of redistricting, Democrats in the Georgia state legislature tried to draw Gingrich's district out from under him by splitting most of his old territory among two other districts. At the same time, they created a new, heavily Republican 6th District located in Fulton and Cobb counties in the wealthy northern suburbs of Atlantaan area that Gingrich had never represented. However, the plan backfired when Gingrich sold his home in Carrollton and moved to Marietta in the new 6th. He easily won the Republican primary, which was tantamount to election in the new district. Democrats filed 84 ethics charges against Speaker Gingrich during his term, including claiming tax-exempt status for a town hall meeting and college course run for political purposes. The charges were eventually dropped following an investigation by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee. However, Gingrich admitted to unintentionally giving inaccurate information to the House Ethics Committee during the course of the investigation, although the committee did not indict him on charges of intentional perjury. The matter was settled when he agreed to reimburse the Committee $300,000 for the cost of prolonging the investigation. The payment was described as a "cost assessment" rather than a "fine" by the Committee. Gingrich was the author of an infamous secret memo to GOP leaders in 1995 titled "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control", which one of America's foremost linguists called an outline of a strategy to frame the word "liberal" as "something akin to traitor" in the media. This was in line with his once-described goal of "reshaping the entire nation through the news media" (New York Times,12/14/94). The events of 1998 ended Gingrich's career in the House. In early 1998, many House Republicans had come to see him as a liability and attempted to replace him as Speaker with suburban Buffalo, New York congressman Bill Paxon. The coup failed, and Paxon was forced from office and completely retired from politics. At the end of the year, the Republicans expected big gains from the 1998 Congressional elections. In fact, Gingrich had predicted a 30-seat Republican pickup. Instead, the Republicans lost five seatsthe poorest results in 34 years for any party not in control of the White House. Gingrich took most of the blame for the defeat. Amid threats of a rebellion in his caucus, he announced that he would not only stand down as Speaker, but would leave the House as well. He had been elected to an 11th term in that election, but declined to take his seat. In Decmeber 1999, Gingrich divorced his second wife, Marianne, after revealing in August that he had been carrying on an extramarital affair for the past six years with a House clerk twenty-three years his junior, Callista Bisek. His infidelity was viewed as highly hypocritical by many critics in light of his heavy emphasis on family values while in office and close ties with the Christian Coalition. This was coupled with the fact that Gingrich handed divorce papers to Marianne after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Similarly, in 1981, Gingrich served divorce papers to his first wife, Jackie Battley, after she was in the hospital undergoing cancer treatment. It was also noted by critics that his own adultery had taken place while he was leading moral attacks against Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal for the same behavior. On August 19, 2000, Gingrich married Callista Bisek as his third wife. (This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)

The three L's of a good UC is location, location, location. If a UC is always parked in front of the coffee pot, then his/her location is not good. If the UC is parked in front of the Scout Hut each night, then it is not a good location. If the UC is parked outside a District activity all of the time, it is not a good location. Parked and balanced somewhere between good common sense and a Unit's needs is generally a good location. Also, since you are a WB'er, how would your WB training answer your question for you? FB, UC

I like guns and believe that when all guns are outlawed that is when I will probably be robbed. I wouldn't carry a gun because I believe that the police have a place in my life and are much better equipped for an emergency than I am. I believe that most everyone should know how to shoot clean and store their gun properly and be prepared to use it when necessary. When shooting, I prefer a round marked target over a funny animal because I can better align my site and check my accuracy. I enjoy marksmanship but would not shoot an animal unless attacked or if I was starving. I would rather pay someone to beat an animal in the head with a stick first so I could have a good meal. I generally eat chicken because somehow they deserve to be eaten rather than fat cows. I don't smoke because it is a nasty smelly addiction that lends itself to a wretched death. I have a beer about once a year and maybe even that is too much but I reserve a little fun for myself. Even if I smoked or drank regularly, I would never do either within a mile of the Scouts. It is a bad example and it is one I do not want the Scouts to follow because of the problems I have personally witnessed over the years. I am not sure politics plays a role in these decisions or if anyone would even want me in either camp, left or right based on what I believe. It is fear that drives us to disguise our enemies and not good judgment.

Libby took the hit, Rove and Chaney will duck but most likely will be dragged into their own mess. Blindly rewarding those who are loyal has been aptly demonstrated as a disaster in the making and bluntly crushing your opposition has its own downside. It is a strategy of the lower road and has now been sanctioned as a Christian method.

They were posturing to take the spot light from their VP before he is taken off in handcuffs for lying. It had nothing to do with getting a new SC Justice.

Close the borders? I believe Jonahs story for more than one reason. Jonah was told to go to the heathen and tell them to repent. He refused, went the other way, and got himself thrown overboard and swallowed by a whale before he decided to follow God's word. He then went forward dripping in whale slime and entered the great city at a fast clip. He screamed as he ran through it that they should 'repent!'. Then, he went up on a hill, sat down and waited for God's wrath to descend on the wicked foreigners. His thoughts read kind of like this, 'They will not hear me because they think I am crazy. I have finally and surely defeated God by slopping through what he wanted me to do'. But they repented and God held firm to his word and a surprised Jonah fumed, 'Why would my God want those people for his own when he has me?' We are different than our neighbors because we have most of the wealth of the world. Should we purchase the Great Wall of China and place it along the Mexican border? Then, if we are still predisposed to helping the poor, we could sprinkle bags of coins down on them? Do we kill our enemies so they will not frighten us? Do we try to work with our neighbors instead? Does God really want us to befriend peasants? We are in a unique situation in all of history. There are more countries in the world than ever before. One reason is that we have not killed or enslaved everyone. We may have found ways to take their resources and we may have found ways for them to rule themselves and to engage in the world economy. As a nation, we have been both good and bad to other nations. God also tries to deal with nations but it is universally true that God deals with individuals. I wander if Jonah was a liberal or a conservative? I imagine that God doesn't measure one's label as much as one's heart or true inner motives. We would like to underscore our differences but God doesnt see us that way. FB(This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)(This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)

How much of what we do is Good Turn and how much is for self? Several years ago, my wife and I were living in a small trailer. I tore out the shelves in the kitchen and vowed to rebuild them bigger and better. I put together the first large unit, floor to ceiling and began to finish them. My wife asked me about the reason that I was putting finish on the underside of each shelf. I said because someone might look there one day and would be appreciative of a job well done. Time and our family moved on to other homes but that unit of shelves remained with us. I now use them in the garage for storage. Every now and then I peek under the shelves and laugh to myself about how much I appreciate a job well done. I can now build shelves without attempting perfection. I accept that some things are unnecessary. I try to find things to do more often that have worth and that someone would truly be appreciative of when they find out what was done. FB

I have been thinking about the Good Turn for a while. The Good Turn is an act done out of kindness and not for a reward, badge, or token. It is a thoughtful act done cheerfully, without being asked and is done to the best of ones ability and accomplished in the spirit of being helpful. It has a way of bringing trustworthiness and friendliness home to one's acts for any and all. It has more to do with one's motive than anything else. One must be brave because others will view these acts as dumb. It allows one to be courteous and has a way of making and keeping one clean in thought word and deed. It builds honor, loyalty and obedience to one's God and shadows one's reverence to their God regularly. This duty is a very powerful concept and is Scouting in a nutshell. FB

while we are here... Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?

Two guys had just eaten a tiger when caught by a Forest Ranger. On the way to jail, they were asked how it tasted and one said, Gaaarrrate! After Thomas Edison made the first bulb, he remarked that it was not really his intention to make light of just anything. FB (This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)

PS In other words, he wrote the article because he "can". FB

I used to be a BEAR and a Good 'ol Bear too... And now I'm finished Bearing... I don't I don't know what to do... I'm growing old and feable and I can Bear no more... So I am going to work my ticket if I can... Back to Gilwell.. Happy Land.. I'm going to work my ticket if I can... FB

I would like to share a few things I have learned from several. I will make it brief. Scout Leader Training- I learned that as an adult my role had changed from when I was a Scout. It was not an easy lesson and it didn't come quickly. It came with a kind of a sinking feeling attached. Cub Scout Leader Training- As a participant- I found that some presenters can speak all day long and everyone will love it. As a presenter- I found that the amount of time that one is on the stage is limited. I have learned to prioritize what I tell 'em. People have other goals outside of the BSA that have a great deal of importance. Life Guard Training- Memorize what is most important. Prepare for what is most important. Practice what is most important. Train the Trainer- I learned many useful techniques for training. Show and Do- Having a great overall program, Staff and highlights will attract a large group that maximizes the learning of the skills taught and brings an excitement that is long lasting. Cub Scout Pow-Wow- I learned that I am best suited to being a Program Director and/or a program person. I have an imagination that fits much of the Cub Scout program. Woodbadge changed my life and the way I approach tasks. As I have gotten older, I rely on it even more. I think back on my Patrol and the struggles we had to overcome. I am unsure if we ever really jelled as a group but I think we softened and accepted that our group was made up of individuals with differences that we would overlook so we could achieve our goals and we all did. Philmont- In God's Country at the age of 15, I hiked the Southern trail. I kept a written record which was unnecessary because I replay some of what I learned each time I go camping. As an adult, I returned for Roundtable Training and Committee Training. Two presenters had collections that they showed us. I was inspired to assemble my own collection after them. Some of the presenters were truly the best. I have materials and booklets that I still use. One presenter spoke to us as a group. He went over the 8 Methods of Scouting. He said that he loved coming to Philmont but he wanted some of us to take over. So, he stepped down and left us his place. FB(This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)

I sometimes wonder about the reasons why people take WB. I wonder more often about the quality of work they produce after they have completed their Ticket. One of my Troops had four WB'ers as leaders. Their total lack of knowledge of the program was less than one would expect from one new leader. One ran off with the bank account, the other got angry because someone said something about the problem, so he quit. The last two were living together so they continued on with the same inadequate approach that lead to the initial problem. I am still scratching my head. The problem may be in the attitude one has after they get their beads. I am not sure what would happen if one were to take the beads away. FB

I realize that things change and there are a variety of needs from many different WB'ers. I served under the "old guard" and I was happy to see it end. I experienced some unnecessary actions by those that pretended to be protecting the sanctity of WB past. At the time I left, my decision was to leave it to those that were less knowing but more excited about just being part of it. I haven't returned. I worked my Ticket, obtained my third bead and have confidence in doing an adequate job as a leader in Scouting. I write a new Ticket for myself on a yearly basis and give myself a little praise when it is completed. I don't intend on returning to the new program but I feel like there is an intentional gulf being drawn by the new ruling on giving up what one has earned to be part of the New. This is an act that would make the "old guard" proud. It was the type of act that they loved to institute but they were less demonstrative, more subtle but just as effective. It is a punitive act that is unnecessary. We all know where that kind of behavior leads one, no matter what the intention. It is a way of telling a person that what they have learned, what they know, what they have put into actual experience is no longer valid. Few will accept that belief because WB past was from a book and from experience. You knew it worked and you saw the results. The problems came with the abuses of power and not with the material itself. Bringing people together is more difficult than using a rule to further separate them. The new order in WB has been established but I disagree with the continuance of driving home the separation by being punitive. It compounds the behavior behind the change and exposes the true motive. That is not being Kind and does not speak well for the "New Guard". FB

I understood what you meant to say. Our rights as citizens in this unique nation of ours are something very special and is without precedent in all of history. No other place on this planet will anyone ever have what we have here again. People are too selfish to do otherwise. American Scouting is a close reflection of those rights and goes hand in hand with what it means to be an American. (Flags rise, people rise, "I am proud to be an American" begins slowly and silently in the background). FB