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Fuzzy Bear

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Everything posted by Fuzzy Bear

  1. Welcome and Merry Christmas. You appear to have your hands full with Scouting. fb
  2. Festivus is never the same without a large cold mug of Chai Tea with marshmallows stuffed with red hots floating in it. This brew can really jump start the gripe sessions; at least it does it for us. fb
  3. For everyone that posts here, I wish you all Happy Holidays and a wonderful new year. The first question put to the three Wise men upon their arrival addressed the condition of their costumes. It was noted that they were covered in dust and ash and many wanted to know the reason. Their reply: They came from afar. (Scouts understand this one.) fb
  4. I will now update my previous post of several months ago, since we are reviewing. If a Scout wants to stick a spear through his head from ear to ear and have it hang out on both sides and dangle a pair of earrings down to the floor, nobody should have a word to say to him. (*I am not speaking for the Scouts parents.) As long as he is in full uniform with all badges correctly in place and wasn't going out to play some kind of sport where the spear and earrings would make it unsafe, then he is within the Scout regulations. Also, my personal opinion on such things is not relevant, so I do
  5. We used to have a Forum member that intelligently defended the right and wrong or the black and white of the letter of all rules, regulations and guidelines. I must admit that his arguments were quite compelling and sometimes I miss not having something solid to lean on from such argumentation. Using his approach, it becomes a slippery slope or easy to dismiss the problems that arise from the numerous individual issues that may confront us at any turn in the road. His argument would be that you simply don't know enough about the program to make an informed decision. In many instances, I am
  6. I let my weight bloom for a couple of years and it has been a fight ever since. Bad feet and a sit down job didn't help one bit. I now work out 5 days a week from 5 to 6 AM and have being doing so for one year. I am doing my best to continue in spite of cold weather and early morning hours prior to going to work. I am not attempting an award. It is something I learned in Scouting. Should a Scout not do what is asked? They need to let me know that they are doing their best first. If they have worked out for thirty days doing all of the required exercises, then they will have improved
  7. Circle the wagons before recruiting. Take the group that you have and everyone commit to go to training both for the training and to acquire a good dose of SCOUT SPIRIT. If they demure, get with the District Training Chair and bring the training to them when they all can get together. NOBODY wants to crawl aboard a ship that is about to go down, so dont recruit until there is some kind of SPIRIT that is encouraging. People will be more prone to come aboard if it looks exciting. Next, require that each family commit one parent for one position OR one activity Or to do one
  8. Pinning a note to the door in the middle of the night of an upstanding Ranger doesnt square with being Trustworthy and all of the rest that follows. I suppose it would be easy to backtrack that kind of varmit to deal with him properly but judging from the actions, it wouldnt be worth the walk. I dont need to say it but we all eat that which we kill. I suppose those in the backroom that figured out how to deal with Ranger Rennell will be eating a meal that most wouldnt put in their mouth anytime but especially during the Christmas season. That kind of gift when opened brings on a smel
  9. Death is a democratic event. Organizations, family members, and individuals are all affected by the person dying. The funeral home/church tries to bring a type of general order within the wishes of the direct family members. Sometimes there are so many that want to express their feelings but time limits their actions. It is like life itself being replayed in miniature. A long time professional Scouter was diabetic and he knew that it was a matter of time. He planned the proceedings. It was a simple church service in a large auditorium. Someone from his church spoke and another sa
  10. I don't fault the training for varied outcomes as much as I do the participants that come to the training with their varied backgrounds and learning abilities. The bigger problem is that no matter how well trained, they return to a unit with varied backgrounds and levels of training. In most cases, it is not a one-person show and others may be in positions of authority to control the use of the effects of the training. In some instances, a person simply does not understand how to engage training outcomes with their unit. WB tries to do this with the Ticket and has found success. Problems
  11. Here is your opportunity to tell the readers about your version of Pure Scouting. For some, it appears that Scouting has, much like color mixing, color, hue, and saturation with the ability to mix, match and to increase/decrease intensity levels. For some, it may be that Scouting is a process of learned objectives that can be achieved over a period of time. For others, it may be an either/or proposition where a group of people come together to engage a program. It has been some time but for a few years I visited the Philmont Training Center for several programs. I took
  12. This appears to be a problem in measurement. Does this Scouts height equal that which I (the leader) perceive to be that of an Eagle? I posit that if he has reached the Aims and if he has used the Methods to get there, then he has met the initial goal. One past and most straightforward poster was fond of saying that if the Scout meets the requirements, then he has the badge. I dont agree with the idea of the CO determining if the Scout meets some other criteria simply because it may not match anything Scouting. It appears that you have identified other criteria that you believe to be impo
  13. According to what has been said, he knew his way home. fb
  14. We had a guy volunteer as a UC. He came to one meeting and he was never seen again. Sightings of UC's are about as common as are those of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Some believe that maybe the I.B. Woodpecker has been sited more times. fb
  15. If you beat a dead horse in the woods, will anyone hear the blows? The Scout Spirit issue comes up over and over. It is like being on a Merry Go-Round. It has not gotten us to where we are going but the ride has been kind of fun. Here is another kink in the rope: Since Eagle is the culmination of the Scouting experience, has he reached any of the Aims of Scouting? Physical Fitness, Character Development and Participating Citizenship. Has he engaged all of the Methods of Scouting? Ideals, Patrols, Outdoors, Uniform, Advancement, Leadership Development, Personal Growth
  16. I agree on the physical status of the horse and kicking it once more won't help either. I suppose disagreement is better than the alternatives. You say on the one hand that Scouting can be done as any unit declares and then when it ain't, you find it hard to accept. It is one or the other but then it may be that you are just trying to find acceptance of a program gone south. DE's like to look the other way, UC's like to throw them a training brochure at the problem, and others just ignore what is going on. I believe they have chosen to ignore the greatest opportunity the world has to offe
  17. We should plan to pay our final respects to Phelps when he dies, as he has shown us the way. I am sure that we can find a proper vehicle to show our feelings toward one that gave so much of himself in life for so many. Maybe hundreds or thousands of bikers and angels alike will be eager and happy to gather closely around his grave to give him the kind of a send-off that such a man of the cloth richly deserves. Most probably, his family, friends and fellow church parishioners will be inspired by the overwhelming response. I also feel that the newspaper people will write about the incident i
  18. A couple of years ago I began a reading voyage dedicated to finding out the reasons. I returned knowing allot about dictators, the leaders, the generals, the battles, the movements, the decisions and equipment. I noted that very little was said about the thousands/millions of individuals and families that were maimed, injured, disabled, torn apart, blown up, gassed, burned and killed. I suppose we share a mutual silence toward death and destruction; it is both a fear and a hope that somehow it is kept far from our doors forever. It may be that we set aside certain days to reflect on those
  19. The LDS units have changed the Scouting program and done it correctly. They have also changed Scouting. I do not believe that they intentionally set about doing this because I believe they simply wanted to make the program conform to their own needs. The point is that if others try the same thing they run the risk of having their charter revoked because of a lack of central support. I don't know of another organization outside the military that could arrange leadership and order by mandate. So, if a lone unit decides that their church has needs specific to their program, such as admitting
  20. The worried guy on the sideline is now considered a mascot for Penn State. They gave him a pair of "cleats" years ago for worrying so much. He is very good at it. Just look at the wrinkles on his forehead if you don't believe me. JoPa, I think, is a Coach that resides in that great Press box in the sky and just calls down plays to someone on the sideline and they are magically transmitted to the QB. Penn State hasn't had an actual Headphone Coach for years. JoPa is an ethereal figure that has become a sacred cow tradition. Those outside the state are kind of mystified. How do we find o
  21. A person, group , District, etc. can go their own way, do their own thing, dance their own dance until it gets to court and then those who followed their own drummer will be out. Every group agrees to follow the rules of the program. A group may even have their Charter taken from them for not following the rules. Power to make the rules rests solely with National. A CO agrees to use the BSA program as it is presented. A SM agrees to follow the rules of the BSA. A Cub Scout follows Akela. Now, for the other side of the coin. Say a unit or a church decides to use the BSA
  22. The video was good. The neckerchief is non-functional due to a reduction in size or an increase in size of the general population, thus making it a relic but good for traditional value. End point numbers are of little value without specific regional, state and Council valuations and a host of other statistics that can help to make sense of any of it. Those kinds of numbers are only useful for those at the top with the power to change. The worried guy that walks on the sideline for Penn State on most Saturdays should have trained another guy to take over because I now fear that he h
  23. Numbers are up in our area of the country. I suppose if one is making a case for general causation based on end of the year numbers, being open to all possibilities is a first step. Another step is to be open to what is working. Generalities are prone to individual fluctuations/characteristics that may change the profile and one's perception. One would also need comparative data on other 100 year old youth organizations to begin one's search and there should be a literature review as well of all youth organizations. It may lead one into a much bigger project than what it looks like on the
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