I've had a bit of a sore throat the past couple days. This morning when I woke up, I had one of those extra deep voices. I couldn't help but sing a couple lines of Go Down Moses while waiting at the bus stop. (There wasn't anyone else there.)
It reminded me of one Sunday when I was a Priest. Being 17 years old, of course I stayed up late and slept in until right before church started. So I got up and ready and drove myself to church without having talked to anyone, since my family had left before I got up.
It was my turn to bless the sacrament, and since I hadn't really said anything outloud yet, a booming, deep morning voice came out.
Now, when you have something weird with your voice, you can try to cough a little and clear it up and start over at totally different pitch or just keep going. I kept going. I figured switching in the middle would be more noticeable than continuing on, plus there's no guarantee after clearing your throat that it's going to be any different, so the grunting into the microphone may have been in vain anyway.
The other side of that, of course, is as a teenager, I would have been somewhat proud of my deep, booming voice. If I had to pick now, I'd choose to be able to knock out a wicked high tenor, but at the time, I was proud of the fact that I fit squarely into the bass section in choir. I suppose how low your voice goes fits right in there with shoe size, height, a paycheck over $100, and beard development for a teenager showing off his manliness.
So I was secretly pleased after the meeting at the comments on my sacrament prayer. Of course I now know that if I'm doing enough to draw attention to me during the prayer, people are not thinking about what they should be thinking about because of my distraction, which is bad.
But not bad enough to turn down the chance to bless the sacrament this Sunday if I'm asked to sub and my voice is still in the same shape as it is today.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Law
I was in a class on Sunday where the teacher was talking about obedience and the line between following the spirit of the law and the letter of the law.
We started out by listing a few items that were obviously letter of the law things. Thou shalt not kill was put there, although it was pointed out that for Nephi, there was a bit of an exception made. We listed several more items, and the last item mentioned just as we were about to move onto another topic was the Word of Wisdom.
This is the one the teacher was looking for. The obvious letter of the law part to the Word of Wisdom is the no coffee, tea, drugs, tobacco, and alcohol component. But the question is where eating meat only in times of famine or the other "be healthy" components of this law fit in. Of course, if you ask Gramps, he'll say that D&C 89 is being misinterpreted, and that a rogue comma renders verse 13 exactly the opposite of its original intent. I don't want to get into that issue too deeply. We eat meat without having our temple recommends taken away.
The teacher's point again, though, was that we need to get away from having a line drawn between the spirit and letter of the law. We just need to be obedient. Our stake president recently gave a talk where he urged us to use the spirit of the law to make ourselves more obedient, not to creep over the line into the letter of the law portion of obedience. That is, you don't use the spirit of the law to justify breaking the letter of the law a little bit, as long as you had the right intent.
The spirit of the law should make us more obedient. That is, we should be avoiding food with lots of fat, sugary soft drinks, caffeine, and anything else that is obviously bad for us, while exercising more. As we were discussing the Word of Wisdom, I mentioned something about how it says we should "run and not be weary and walk and not faint". A large brother in the class countered that that statement is a blessing, not a commandment. I didn't want to get into an argument with an overweight member of the class about whether he was breaking the Word of Wisdom, so I just backed off.
The more I think about it, though, I don't see the difference between this being a commandment versus a blessing. The Lord commands us to avoid bad food, eat good food, and be obedient to the commandments. If we do that, we'll be healthy, gain knowledge, and run and not be weary. You can take the word "run" either literally or figuratively, but either way, again, it's the same. The Lord wants us to eat good food, exercise, gain knowledge, and otherwise be well prepared to carry out his work here on this earth.
I'm sorry, but if you're morbidly obese, I believe you're breaking the commandments. You cannot run and not be weary; you can barely walk without stopping for a breather. You cannot go visit the sick, because you are the sick. You cannot go on a mission if your BMI is over 37. You cannot go on many Scouting high adventure activities if your BMI is over 30. The Lord will not bless you to be able to run if you have not done the things that make that physically possible.
The Word of Wisdom here is just an example of one law, so I don't mean to harp on it too much. The principle of obedience applies to any law.
It was brought up in class that there are certain things that will keep you from getting a temple recommend, where many other things may not. You can also get into Elder Oaks' explanation of the difference between disobeying a law that is simply a legal prohibition versus one that is an inherent wrong. But again, drawing the line at what will keep you out of the temple or breaking laws like speeding that are only legal prohibitions and not inherent laws of nature, are not in line with the spirit of the law and will prevent you from being an effective servant of the Lord.
By fully committing oneself physically, spiritually, and otherwise, we will be more blessed and available to do the Lord's work better than someone who just does the bare minimum.
We started out by listing a few items that were obviously letter of the law things. Thou shalt not kill was put there, although it was pointed out that for Nephi, there was a bit of an exception made. We listed several more items, and the last item mentioned just as we were about to move onto another topic was the Word of Wisdom.
This is the one the teacher was looking for. The obvious letter of the law part to the Word of Wisdom is the no coffee, tea, drugs, tobacco, and alcohol component. But the question is where eating meat only in times of famine or the other "be healthy" components of this law fit in. Of course, if you ask Gramps, he'll say that D&C 89 is being misinterpreted, and that a rogue comma renders verse 13 exactly the opposite of its original intent. I don't want to get into that issue too deeply. We eat meat without having our temple recommends taken away.
The teacher's point again, though, was that we need to get away from having a line drawn between the spirit and letter of the law. We just need to be obedient. Our stake president recently gave a talk where he urged us to use the spirit of the law to make ourselves more obedient, not to creep over the line into the letter of the law portion of obedience. That is, you don't use the spirit of the law to justify breaking the letter of the law a little bit, as long as you had the right intent.
The spirit of the law should make us more obedient. That is, we should be avoiding food with lots of fat, sugary soft drinks, caffeine, and anything else that is obviously bad for us, while exercising more. As we were discussing the Word of Wisdom, I mentioned something about how it says we should "run and not be weary and walk and not faint". A large brother in the class countered that that statement is a blessing, not a commandment. I didn't want to get into an argument with an overweight member of the class about whether he was breaking the Word of Wisdom, so I just backed off.
The more I think about it, though, I don't see the difference between this being a commandment versus a blessing. The Lord commands us to avoid bad food, eat good food, and be obedient to the commandments. If we do that, we'll be healthy, gain knowledge, and run and not be weary. You can take the word "run" either literally or figuratively, but either way, again, it's the same. The Lord wants us to eat good food, exercise, gain knowledge, and otherwise be well prepared to carry out his work here on this earth.
I'm sorry, but if you're morbidly obese, I believe you're breaking the commandments. You cannot run and not be weary; you can barely walk without stopping for a breather. You cannot go visit the sick, because you are the sick. You cannot go on a mission if your BMI is over 37. You cannot go on many Scouting high adventure activities if your BMI is over 30. The Lord will not bless you to be able to run if you have not done the things that make that physically possible.
The Word of Wisdom here is just an example of one law, so I don't mean to harp on it too much. The principle of obedience applies to any law.
It was brought up in class that there are certain things that will keep you from getting a temple recommend, where many other things may not. You can also get into Elder Oaks' explanation of the difference between disobeying a law that is simply a legal prohibition versus one that is an inherent wrong. But again, drawing the line at what will keep you out of the temple or breaking laws like speeding that are only legal prohibitions and not inherent laws of nature, are not in line with the spirit of the law and will prevent you from being an effective servant of the Lord.
By fully committing oneself physically, spiritually, and otherwise, we will be more blessed and available to do the Lord's work better than someone who just does the bare minimum.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
So Responsible
Being the fifth Sunday this month, we had combined meetings today. They had a special topic for all the sisters in the ward, Young Women and Relief Society. The Teachers, Priests, and their leaders taught Primary while the sisters all went to their special meeting. The Elders and High Priests also met together.
I was in the back of the Primary room just kind of watching for any situations that might need a little help during closing exercises. Robby, one of my previous scouts who is almost 16 turned around a couple times to point out how loud my son was. I had been out of the room for a few minutes and never saw him being out of control, but supposedly he was while I was gone. Robby told me that they were able to get him under control by giving him something to eat.
I know my son can get a little excited sometimes, but usually in large groups or around people he doesn't know as well, he gets pretty quiet. I won't know what really happened while I was gone, but the part that I thought was most interesting was that it was Robby who was being so responsible in having to help deal with someone who was having a hard time paying attention and being quiet. Robby was usually one of those who had the same problem. We actually called him to be the Deacon's Quorum president with the idea that by keeping him as close as we could to us it might be possible to at least aim his boundless energy, even if it were impossible to control it.
Now there he was today, doing everything he could, including bribing a younger child with treats, to try to get the child to pay attention during a lesson and other activities, probably using some of the same tricks that have been used on him over the years. By the time I got there, the situation was under control, so whatever he did worked. He's become so responsible. I just can't wait to see him 10 years from now with kids of his own, serving as SM himself.
I was in the back of the Primary room just kind of watching for any situations that might need a little help during closing exercises. Robby, one of my previous scouts who is almost 16 turned around a couple times to point out how loud my son was. I had been out of the room for a few minutes and never saw him being out of control, but supposedly he was while I was gone. Robby told me that they were able to get him under control by giving him something to eat.
I know my son can get a little excited sometimes, but usually in large groups or around people he doesn't know as well, he gets pretty quiet. I won't know what really happened while I was gone, but the part that I thought was most interesting was that it was Robby who was being so responsible in having to help deal with someone who was having a hard time paying attention and being quiet. Robby was usually one of those who had the same problem. We actually called him to be the Deacon's Quorum president with the idea that by keeping him as close as we could to us it might be possible to at least aim his boundless energy, even if it were impossible to control it.
Now there he was today, doing everything he could, including bribing a younger child with treats, to try to get the child to pay attention during a lesson and other activities, probably using some of the same tricks that have been used on him over the years. By the time I got there, the situation was under control, so whatever he did worked. He's become so responsible. I just can't wait to see him 10 years from now with kids of his own, serving as SM himself.
Storming
Michael, one of my boys who is a little more rambunctious than some, can jump back and forth between being the sweetest kid in the world to being a total hellion. At least you never have to wonder which one it is. You will always know what he is up to. There's no sneaking around or hiding emotions with him.
I had been teaching a Sunday lesson a few months ago where most of the boys were being rowdier than normal. After trying to ignore them or redirect their conversation for as long as I could stand it, I finally blew my top a little. Now, with me, that's actually a pretty rare occurrence, and a calculated one at that. That is, I'll let the anger loose a little for show.
So I let them have it, sucked out any spirit that was left in our quorum meeting, and started trying to get back into the lesson. A few minutes later, Michael was the one who had the misfortune to be the first to act out of line again, and I actually did let it go. My patience had been worn down enough, and with the spirit gone as it was, I harshly told him he was dismissed from the class.
He actually looked a little scared as he left the room, and the Bishop's counselor followed him out to talk to him for a minute. I felt bad the rest of the meeting. I saw his dad in the hall after church and told him what happened, just so he'd have my explanation of what happened before he got Michael's explanation.
After talking to his dad, I immediately biked over to his house, which is just a couple blocks from the church, and apologized to him. I can't really even remember what I said, just something about appreciating him in our quorum, and I shouldn't have kicked him out, and we can work together, etc. He seemed to be okay with it.
Over the next month or so, nothing seemed to be much different one way or another, other than I was still feeling bad. Then I was sitting next to him in quorum meeting several weeks later when someone else was teaching. The whole time we were making little jokes back and forth about whatever, to the point that we would just look at each other and start laughing. I kept it under control as much as possible, disrupting the class as little as possible, but there was a little bond forged there. Ever since then, he often says things about how he wants to sit by me so we can joke around or that we know what each other is thinking without even having to say anything.
We learn in Scouts and elsewhere that as teams and relationships develop, something that really bonds people is going through hard things together. Never stressing or testing a relationship means that the relationship has never been properly forged to begin with.
While down inside I still feel bad for kicking Michael out of class that day, I know he doesn't. He would say something if he did, since you always knows what he's thinking, good or bad. I've also grown to respect him more than I did before. Having worked through some frustration with him and seeing the ease with which he could forgive and forget, he has been an example to me.
I had been teaching a Sunday lesson a few months ago where most of the boys were being rowdier than normal. After trying to ignore them or redirect their conversation for as long as I could stand it, I finally blew my top a little. Now, with me, that's actually a pretty rare occurrence, and a calculated one at that. That is, I'll let the anger loose a little for show.
So I let them have it, sucked out any spirit that was left in our quorum meeting, and started trying to get back into the lesson. A few minutes later, Michael was the one who had the misfortune to be the first to act out of line again, and I actually did let it go. My patience had been worn down enough, and with the spirit gone as it was, I harshly told him he was dismissed from the class.
He actually looked a little scared as he left the room, and the Bishop's counselor followed him out to talk to him for a minute. I felt bad the rest of the meeting. I saw his dad in the hall after church and told him what happened, just so he'd have my explanation of what happened before he got Michael's explanation.
After talking to his dad, I immediately biked over to his house, which is just a couple blocks from the church, and apologized to him. I can't really even remember what I said, just something about appreciating him in our quorum, and I shouldn't have kicked him out, and we can work together, etc. He seemed to be okay with it.
Over the next month or so, nothing seemed to be much different one way or another, other than I was still feeling bad. Then I was sitting next to him in quorum meeting several weeks later when someone else was teaching. The whole time we were making little jokes back and forth about whatever, to the point that we would just look at each other and start laughing. I kept it under control as much as possible, disrupting the class as little as possible, but there was a little bond forged there. Ever since then, he often says things about how he wants to sit by me so we can joke around or that we know what each other is thinking without even having to say anything.
We learn in Scouts and elsewhere that as teams and relationships develop, something that really bonds people is going through hard things together. Never stressing or testing a relationship means that the relationship has never been properly forged to begin with.
While down inside I still feel bad for kicking Michael out of class that day, I know he doesn't. He would say something if he did, since you always knows what he's thinking, good or bad. I've also grown to respect him more than I did before. Having worked through some frustration with him and seeing the ease with which he could forgive and forget, he has been an example to me.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Training Awards
I've been putting together a list of all the training that the BSA provides. Some of the training is required, while some is optional. When I finish the list, I'll post it here, but I've got a little ways to go still.
The interesting thing to me in working on it was how few leaders in LDS troops actually do any of it, including the mandatory training. It's mandatory, folks. It would be scary to do an audit and see how many LDS troops are out of compliance. A lot of it is online now, so 'no time in my busy schedule' no longer applies as an excuse.
There are several knots for adults for completing training and for running the troop according to that training. I know a lot of leaders aren't interested in earning awards themselves, but working on these knots helps get you doing what you should be doing anyway. Get yourself and your boys trained, have some Courts of Honor, go on several campouts, be a merit badge counselor, go to roundtable, and hold a yearly planning meeting. Why would you be doing anything else but this?
I like earning awards so the boys know that I'm working on something, not just telling them what to do all the time, but there is a larger purpose. The adult awards are there for the same reason the boys have awards. They provide a path to follow to develop oneself into a better leader.
Fill out the paperwork, and get an award yourself at the next Court of Honor for running the troop like it should be run. If you're not doing what you need to get the awards, there is a major problem, and you need to get your troop in order (starting with yourself).
The interesting thing to me in working on it was how few leaders in LDS troops actually do any of it, including the mandatory training. It's mandatory, folks. It would be scary to do an audit and see how many LDS troops are out of compliance. A lot of it is online now, so 'no time in my busy schedule' no longer applies as an excuse.
There are several knots for adults for completing training and for running the troop according to that training. I know a lot of leaders aren't interested in earning awards themselves, but working on these knots helps get you doing what you should be doing anyway. Get yourself and your boys trained, have some Courts of Honor, go on several campouts, be a merit badge counselor, go to roundtable, and hold a yearly planning meeting. Why would you be doing anything else but this?
I like earning awards so the boys know that I'm working on something, not just telling them what to do all the time, but there is a larger purpose. The adult awards are there for the same reason the boys have awards. They provide a path to follow to develop oneself into a better leader.
Fill out the paperwork, and get an award yourself at the next Court of Honor for running the troop like it should be run. If you're not doing what you need to get the awards, there is a major problem, and you need to get your troop in order (starting with yourself).
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Food Drive
Last Sunday a food drive was announced for this Saturday (today). I hadn't heard anything about there being a food drive, so my first thought was that the scouts would be the ones picking up the food.
I later forgot all about it until the 11 year old leader asked me if we needed help with the food drive. I said that as far as I knew we didn't, because we weren't in charge of it. I figured I'd ask the Bishop on Tuesday what the details were just in case, however.
I forgot to ask him.
Friday (yesterday) about noon, I got an email from him asking if we were ready for it. I told him that we would be ready for it, but that until that point, no one had told us anything about it. Occasionally other groups like the Varsities or Elders will be in charge of this kind of project, but deep down inside I knew it was probably us.
So we called all our boys late last night, most of which said they'd be there. Two of them came. We really didn't need much more than that, since there was very little to pick up, due to the lack of advertising. There were no fliers and no multiple weeks of announcements building up to it, not to mention a plethora of other food and supply drives by various community organizations recently that is probably stretching thin the supply of cans of nonperishable food that people bought and then realized they don't like and are thus willing to donate.
I didn't get the final count, since I consolidated the food from my truck into my ASM's truck, and he was going to take it to the food bank, but we probably had about 75 cans or boxes of food, plus a 25 pound bag of flour.
Not bad for a last minute service project.
I later forgot all about it until the 11 year old leader asked me if we needed help with the food drive. I said that as far as I knew we didn't, because we weren't in charge of it. I figured I'd ask the Bishop on Tuesday what the details were just in case, however.
I forgot to ask him.
Friday (yesterday) about noon, I got an email from him asking if we were ready for it. I told him that we would be ready for it, but that until that point, no one had told us anything about it. Occasionally other groups like the Varsities or Elders will be in charge of this kind of project, but deep down inside I knew it was probably us.
So we called all our boys late last night, most of which said they'd be there. Two of them came. We really didn't need much more than that, since there was very little to pick up, due to the lack of advertising. There were no fliers and no multiple weeks of announcements building up to it, not to mention a plethora of other food and supply drives by various community organizations recently that is probably stretching thin the supply of cans of nonperishable food that people bought and then realized they don't like and are thus willing to donate.
I didn't get the final count, since I consolidated the food from my truck into my ASM's truck, and he was going to take it to the food bank, but we probably had about 75 cans or boxes of food, plus a 25 pound bag of flour.
Not bad for a last minute service project.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Mentor
We had an Eagle Court of Honor recently for Alex, one of my Scouts. They are always nice to have. I was especially happy that the family didn't arrange to have a live eagle there like another family had last year.
I know that it is a pretty rare occasion to have someone actually earn the Eagle award, but from the number of people I know who are Eagles, it seems like it should be more common. That's okay, though. It's nice to have something that really takes sustained effort over several years to complete. Of course, everyone has stories of Scouts whose mom really earned their Eagle for them or whose Advancement Committee passed them along too easily, but even with a few Paper Eagles floating around, it's still a big accomplishment. That said, some of the best leaders I know topped out at Life. There is more to being a good person than being an Eagle Scout, but it's generally a pretty good sign that someone is a hard worker.
Like I said, I haven't seen very many of these awarded. Part of the reason is that I've moved around a little. I had worked hard to really motivate my first group of Scouts, and they were on fire. They had rank advancements and merit badges like crazy. Then they turned 14 and moved on to Varsity Scouts. That's the point in time where it gets harder to motivate them to work on advancement. They are often active and excited about the program still, just that they get stuck on the hard required merit badges that they've been putting off. I had a bit of a surprise when I had to repeat the process again with my next group, but now I know to expect it.
Having moved to a new ward and being switched around a little between Scouts and Varsities, I've never really had a boy earn his Eagle who I really felt like I had that big of a role in helping him get there. Most of my beginning Scouts either fizzled out when they got older or did eventually earn their Eagle under a different leader. I've also had the opposite a couple times, where one of my boys earned their Eagle but for whom I was made a leader over just as he was wrapping things up.
I've been trying to figure out where Alex fits in. I've been his Scoutmaster the entire time he's been in. In LDS troops, the Scoutmaster doesn't work a ton with the 11 year olds, although I think we should do more with them. A lot of 11 year old Scout leaders don't actually realize they are an ASM to the SM in the ward. They are discouraged from having many activities together, and the 11 year olds are limited on the number of campouts they can go on. That said, Alex actually came and worked on several of the required merit badges we were doing together, even though he was still in the 11 year old patrol. So I did work with him more his first year than I have most 11 year olds. And I've been with him for almost two years since he turned 12. He's almost 14 now. Alex's dad used to be SM, and his mom has worked a lot with Cub Scouts. So, as it should be, he worked on a lot of merit badges on his own, since his parents knew what they were doing.
Of course I helped with things, being the Scoutmaster, but not much more than any of my other Scouts who didn't have parents to help keep them motivated and get the rest of it done. So is seeing Alex earn his Eagle while I was working with him simply representative of all the boys I've worked with who haven't finished their Eagle?
He gave me the Mentor pin, which comes with the Mother and Father pins. It was funny as the Committee Chairman and I were helping him and his parents present each other with their awards, and as I explained what the Mentor pin was for, I heard his dad whispering to him to give it to me. Alex is pretty quiet and reserved, so he just sort of took the pin and didn't do anything, not having been coached beforehand about what he was supposed to do with it. So I just moved on. I wasn't about to stand there and hold out my hand for him to give it back to me, especially if he had someone else in mind to give it to. I was pretty sure he didn't have anyone else in mind. I didn't even know there was such a pin when I got my Eagle. In fact, after seeing one awarded when I was a leader, I went back through my box of Scouting stuff and pulled out my Eagle award case. Lo and behold, there was a Mentor pin sitting in there that I never knew about and thus never gave to anyone. I wonder if one of my Scout leaders was there at my Court of Honor hoping I'd give him the Mentor pin that I didn't know was there.
After the whole thing was over, when everyone was eating delicious Sam's Club cake, he came over to me and said, "Hey Smyth" and tossed the pin to me without really saying anything else. It was totally Alex. It was all that needed to be said. I wouldn't have expected anything else from him. At the same time, it just makes it all the more weird.
I know that it is a pretty rare occasion to have someone actually earn the Eagle award, but from the number of people I know who are Eagles, it seems like it should be more common. That's okay, though. It's nice to have something that really takes sustained effort over several years to complete. Of course, everyone has stories of Scouts whose mom really earned their Eagle for them or whose Advancement Committee passed them along too easily, but even with a few Paper Eagles floating around, it's still a big accomplishment. That said, some of the best leaders I know topped out at Life. There is more to being a good person than being an Eagle Scout, but it's generally a pretty good sign that someone is a hard worker.
Like I said, I haven't seen very many of these awarded. Part of the reason is that I've moved around a little. I had worked hard to really motivate my first group of Scouts, and they were on fire. They had rank advancements and merit badges like crazy. Then they turned 14 and moved on to Varsity Scouts. That's the point in time where it gets harder to motivate them to work on advancement. They are often active and excited about the program still, just that they get stuck on the hard required merit badges that they've been putting off. I had a bit of a surprise when I had to repeat the process again with my next group, but now I know to expect it.
Having moved to a new ward and being switched around a little between Scouts and Varsities, I've never really had a boy earn his Eagle who I really felt like I had that big of a role in helping him get there. Most of my beginning Scouts either fizzled out when they got older or did eventually earn their Eagle under a different leader. I've also had the opposite a couple times, where one of my boys earned their Eagle but for whom I was made a leader over just as he was wrapping things up.
I've been trying to figure out where Alex fits in. I've been his Scoutmaster the entire time he's been in. In LDS troops, the Scoutmaster doesn't work a ton with the 11 year olds, although I think we should do more with them. A lot of 11 year old Scout leaders don't actually realize they are an ASM to the SM in the ward. They are discouraged from having many activities together, and the 11 year olds are limited on the number of campouts they can go on. That said, Alex actually came and worked on several of the required merit badges we were doing together, even though he was still in the 11 year old patrol. So I did work with him more his first year than I have most 11 year olds. And I've been with him for almost two years since he turned 12. He's almost 14 now. Alex's dad used to be SM, and his mom has worked a lot with Cub Scouts. So, as it should be, he worked on a lot of merit badges on his own, since his parents knew what they were doing.
Of course I helped with things, being the Scoutmaster, but not much more than any of my other Scouts who didn't have parents to help keep them motivated and get the rest of it done. So is seeing Alex earn his Eagle while I was working with him simply representative of all the boys I've worked with who haven't finished their Eagle?
He gave me the Mentor pin, which comes with the Mother and Father pins. It was funny as the Committee Chairman and I were helping him and his parents present each other with their awards, and as I explained what the Mentor pin was for, I heard his dad whispering to him to give it to me. Alex is pretty quiet and reserved, so he just sort of took the pin and didn't do anything, not having been coached beforehand about what he was supposed to do with it. So I just moved on. I wasn't about to stand there and hold out my hand for him to give it back to me, especially if he had someone else in mind to give it to. I was pretty sure he didn't have anyone else in mind. I didn't even know there was such a pin when I got my Eagle. In fact, after seeing one awarded when I was a leader, I went back through my box of Scouting stuff and pulled out my Eagle award case. Lo and behold, there was a Mentor pin sitting in there that I never knew about and thus never gave to anyone. I wonder if one of my Scout leaders was there at my Court of Honor hoping I'd give him the Mentor pin that I didn't know was there.
After the whole thing was over, when everyone was eating delicious Sam's Club cake, he came over to me and said, "Hey Smyth" and tossed the pin to me without really saying anything else. It was totally Alex. It was all that needed to be said. I wouldn't have expected anything else from him. At the same time, it just makes it all the more weird.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Our Cookies
Last week we made some cookies at my ASM's house to bring to people who were helping with our camp fundraiser. His wife was listening to us make cookies in the kitchen and got worried that we were messing up the recipe. She came in when we were almost done with the first batch and gave us some pointers. She then proceeded to mix up the second batch of cookies for us.
It was her kitchen and recipe and ingredients. But it was our cookies. It's unfortunate when adults are so worried about the boys failing at something that they do it for them. The way I look at it, if we have to do it for them, we have failed.
By the way, both batches of cookies were delicious. Other than the different type of chips we mixed in the two batches, you couldn't tell the difference even though the first ones were mixed up wrong.
It was her kitchen and recipe and ingredients. But it was our cookies. It's unfortunate when adults are so worried about the boys failing at something that they do it for them. The way I look at it, if we have to do it for them, we have failed.
By the way, both batches of cookies were delicious. Other than the different type of chips we mixed in the two batches, you couldn't tell the difference even though the first ones were mixed up wrong.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Not if I can help it
Last year, the teachers and priests in our ward had been planning a cooking/recipe/food night, where people would bring food, share recipes, and most importantly, eat. I happened to be out in the hall when someone was talking about it, and I mentioned that we'd be happy to join in with them as well. The Bishop was close by and stated something about how they didn't think to invite us, since we'd probably be working on a merit badge that night. My reply was that we would be working on a merit badge that night...Cooking, and that we'd be glad to join them.
How quickly some people forget that there are over 120 merit badges out there. When in doubt, I always assume that no matter the activity someone wants to do, there is likely a merit badge for it. Studying history, surfing the Internet, fixing cars, starting a business, attending a concert, wakeboarding, going to the dentist, and giving your dog a bath are all disparate activities with a common link in that they can all be done as part of various merit badges. Even the ubiquitous standby basketball can be justified within the realm of the Sports merit badge.
For the last couple years, we've had a combined activity where each class makes a church-related video that we watch all together. The guys who had driven the activity in the past have now graduated, but as I had hoped, it was on the table again this year. I am happy to spend several weeks putting our video together all in the name of the Cinematography merit badge, since it's something that I've enjoyed learning more about.
We spent this last week brainstorming, coming up with several funny and interesting ideas about costumes, storylines, and soundtracks for our feature. Then a few days later, we heard the bad news that the activity was a no-go. Between lack of interest from the teachers and priests and outright rebellion from the laurels, not to mention a leaf raking service project we were asked to do, the video night was doomed.
Unfortunately for everybody else, when the deacons and I get excited about something, we find a way to do it anyway. So the plan is to let them cancel/postpone the activity in favor of raking leaves, and wait a couple months until it is our turn to be in charge of the combined activity. Now instead of having everyone film the movies beforehand, the filming will be the activity.
We'll give everyone a video camera, a random bucket of props, a scripture story, and 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, we get back together to watch the videos and have some popcorn. The benefit this way is that the playing field is leveled, given the limits on time, equipment, and storyline.
Of course, instead of spending just two or three weeks on our video like we originally would have, we will now spend two or three months covertly putting it together. I hope that the boys will really come up with something great to tie everyone else's scripture stories together. Part of the motivation, besides just the fun of it, will come from convincing the boys that we're doing this activity to stick it to the people who wanted to cancel it. It often takes some kind of competition to motivate the boys to really be creative and stay focused on something.
I know that as much as we were looking forward to the activity before, my ASM and I are really getting excited now.
How quickly some people forget that there are over 120 merit badges out there. When in doubt, I always assume that no matter the activity someone wants to do, there is likely a merit badge for it. Studying history, surfing the Internet, fixing cars, starting a business, attending a concert, wakeboarding, going to the dentist, and giving your dog a bath are all disparate activities with a common link in that they can all be done as part of various merit badges. Even the ubiquitous standby basketball can be justified within the realm of the Sports merit badge.
For the last couple years, we've had a combined activity where each class makes a church-related video that we watch all together. The guys who had driven the activity in the past have now graduated, but as I had hoped, it was on the table again this year. I am happy to spend several weeks putting our video together all in the name of the Cinematography merit badge, since it's something that I've enjoyed learning more about.
We spent this last week brainstorming, coming up with several funny and interesting ideas about costumes, storylines, and soundtracks for our feature. Then a few days later, we heard the bad news that the activity was a no-go. Between lack of interest from the teachers and priests and outright rebellion from the laurels, not to mention a leaf raking service project we were asked to do, the video night was doomed.
Unfortunately for everybody else, when the deacons and I get excited about something, we find a way to do it anyway. So the plan is to let them cancel/postpone the activity in favor of raking leaves, and wait a couple months until it is our turn to be in charge of the combined activity. Now instead of having everyone film the movies beforehand, the filming will be the activity.
We'll give everyone a video camera, a random bucket of props, a scripture story, and 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, we get back together to watch the videos and have some popcorn. The benefit this way is that the playing field is leveled, given the limits on time, equipment, and storyline.
Of course, instead of spending just two or three weeks on our video like we originally would have, we will now spend two or three months covertly putting it together. I hope that the boys will really come up with something great to tie everyone else's scripture stories together. Part of the motivation, besides just the fun of it, will come from convincing the boys that we're doing this activity to stick it to the people who wanted to cancel it. It often takes some kind of competition to motivate the boys to really be creative and stay focused on something.
I know that as much as we were looking forward to the activity before, my ASM and I are really getting excited now.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Cheers
I hear often from some of my family or friends who have been minimally involved in Scouts that they think all the little songs, skits, and cheers are ultra-lame. Whenever I try to explain their purpose, the response is just, "Oh, well there's the big Scouter, blah, blah, blah." That, my friends, is called an ad hominem logical fallacy, which means that they don't take my argument seriously because it comes from me instead of analyzing the actual merits of the argument.
The thing is, I don't particularly get that excited about all the cheers and cheesy songs myself. However, when you go to camp and the staff teaches the Scouts a bunch of new silly songs, you will inevitably catch the boys singing the songs later, whether the next day or even months later. They stick, because the boys enjoy them. Scouters don't do silly cheers and songs because they enjoy them but because the boys enjoy them. It's all about the boys.
I was thinking about this tonight because I just got home from a high school football game. The game was a good one, other than being a little bit cold. As I listened to some of the cheers that the cheerleaders performed, I began asking myself who in the world makes up these stupid cheers. I've been to a lot of college games recently, but it's been a long time since I went to a high school game.
Suddenly, the connection was made. I could clearly feel the uncomfortable feeling that many people have doing or watching some silly song and dance. I also watched the student section during several of the little ditties as the whole student body joined in dancing, chanting, and singing with them. It wasn't much different than the cheesy stuff we sing at Scouts, and it was for kids about the same age as my Scouts, yet to most people there it didn't seem weird. In the context, both make sense, but it can be hard to commit yourself to the context.
The thing is, I don't particularly get that excited about all the cheers and cheesy songs myself. However, when you go to camp and the staff teaches the Scouts a bunch of new silly songs, you will inevitably catch the boys singing the songs later, whether the next day or even months later. They stick, because the boys enjoy them. Scouters don't do silly cheers and songs because they enjoy them but because the boys enjoy them. It's all about the boys.
I was thinking about this tonight because I just got home from a high school football game. The game was a good one, other than being a little bit cold. As I listened to some of the cheers that the cheerleaders performed, I began asking myself who in the world makes up these stupid cheers. I've been to a lot of college games recently, but it's been a long time since I went to a high school game.
Suddenly, the connection was made. I could clearly feel the uncomfortable feeling that many people have doing or watching some silly song and dance. I also watched the student section during several of the little ditties as the whole student body joined in dancing, chanting, and singing with them. It wasn't much different than the cheesy stuff we sing at Scouts, and it was for kids about the same age as my Scouts, yet to most people there it didn't seem weird. In the context, both make sense, but it can be hard to commit yourself to the context.
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