CUBMASTER'S MINUTES

Sailing
Sam Houston Area Council

If you have ever been sailing, or at least watched sailboats, you may have noticed that two sailboats can sail in different directions in the same breeze.  The trick to which goes fastest is in knowing how to set your sails and how to best use your rudder and keel. 

That's true of life, too.  All of you have the same opportunities, but it’s up to you on how you set your sails to take advantage of the winds.  Poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox said it this way:

            One ship drives east and the other drives west,

            With the selfsame winds that blow,

            'Tis the set of the sails and not the gales,

            Which tells us the way to go.

Conservation:
Sam Houston Area Council

Materials:  One apple, a plate, and a sharp knife

“Imagine if you will that this apple is the earth.”  Cut the apple in quarters.  “Three quarters of the earth is water, where aquatic life lives and, we hope, thrives, but we cannot live there.  One quarter of the earth is land.”  Show the quarter that represents land.

Slice the apple quarter in half, and lift up an eighth of the apple.   “Half of all land is uninhabitable, either because it is a desert or it is too mountainous or some other condition.”  Lift up the other eighth of the apple.  “This eighth of the earth is the part of the globe that we can possibly inhabit.”

Carefully slice the peel off of the piece of apple in your hand and show the Pack how small and thin it is.  “This thin layer is what we can actually live on, and grow food on.  Our atmosphere and topsoil layer is razor thin compared to the enormous size of the earth.”  Pop the peel in your mouth and chew while continuing talking.  “If we don’t take good care of the air and the land that is left, then where are we going to live?”

It Has to Start Somewhere
Alapaha Area Council

When you repeat the Cub Scout Promise, the words “Do My Best” are often lost among the other important words.  Let’s stop for a minute to consider what those words, Do My Best, really mean.  BEST describes actions and effort well above the usual performance.  You are the only one who can possibly know whether or not you have done your best.  Don’t you think that everyone deserves “the best”?  It has to start somewhere; you may as well be the one to do “his best” first.  Think about the meaning of the Promise and decide you will always do your best, no matter what.  You will be the one who benefits the most!

Set Your Sails – Closing Thought
Long Beach Area, Verdugo Hills, San Gabriel Valley Councils

When fog prevents a small-boat sailor from seeing the buoy marking the course he wants, he turns his boat rapidly in small circles, knowing that the waves he makes will rock the buoy in the vicinity.  Then he stops, listens, and repeats the procedure until he hears the buoy clang.  By making waves, he finds where his course lies.  Often the price of finding these guides is a willingness to take a few risks, to “make a few waves.”  A boat, which always stays in the harbor never, encounters danger, but it also never gets anywhere.  I challenge each of you to make waves and diligently seek your goals in life.  Set your sails for new and exciting horizons. 

Red at Night..
Baltimore Area Council

Sailors of old had a simple saying that reminded them to watch for weather signs: “Red in the morning, sailors take warning; red at night, sailors delight.” Our Cub Scouts have a simple saying too that can guide them, it’s “Do Your Best.” Remember it and apply it in all that you do.

It Makes a Difference
Baltimore Area Council

In a world that seems to be increasingly filled with trouble, crime, pain, and war, how can one Cub Scout make a difference?

A young boy walked along the beach one morning and noticed an old man pickling up starfish and throwing them back into the sea. He caught up to the man and asked why he was doing this.

“Because the stranded starfish will die when the sun comes up. They dry out,” the man explained.

“But the beach goes on and on, and there are zillions of starfish,” countered the boy, “How can you hope to make any difference?”

The man looked at the starfish in his hand, and then at the boy. “It makes a difference to this one,” he said, and tossed it to safety in the waves.

Smooth Sailing
Baltimore Area Council

Just as ships need to follow a course to get to their destination, so do we as people. We need to have a course for our lives, too. We don’t want to just sail around aimlessly, getting nowhere. We need to know where we are going.

Think of yourself as “Captain” of your own ship. Plan your course by setting goals. Look at the final destination and try to keep it in sight even when the seas around you are rough and the gales try to blow you off course.

Work hard, just as you have shown here tonight. Work together with your family and friends. Best wishes and smoooooth sailing!