Once there were two brothers, the sons of a tribal chief. One day the chief gave his sons bows and arrows. The oldest son took his bow with an arrow, aimed high, pulled the arrow far back and shot his arrow high. The younger brother took his knife and made a small mark on a near by tree. He stood about ten feet from the tree, put the arrow in his bow, drew back as far as he could, shot his arrow and hit his mark.
The father praised his youngest sons shot. His older brother asked his dad why he praised his younger brother since his arrow flew higher and farther. His father explained that even though his shot did go higher and farther, his younger brother made a mark on the tree, setting a goal to hit his mark, even though he is not as big or as strong, his arrow hit the mark.
As scouts we must set our goals and make our own marks to hit.
The reflection part of the outing is the hardest to get people to do. We’ve got guys in our troop setting goals and achieving them, but during a troop outing to try to understand what they’ve learned is hard. Thankfully, though, we have a pretty good track record with holding a Scout’s Own at the end of each outing where we give thanks for things regarding the outing. It makes the guys stop and think about it for a moment instead of mentally moving on to whatever is waiting them at home.
Even my Girl Scouts have a hard time with this. Actually, it’s mostly the parents. We have a banquet each year which is actually a big, gussied-up awards ceremony with skits. A few weeks later the adults will go out and have a wrap-up meeting to discuss what can be improved and what-not. Well, I should say that’s what’s supposed to happen. It has turned mostly into a time for camaraderie which I’m all for, but I wouldn’t mind still discussing the issues. I have to endure a lot of good-natured ribbing when I try to bring up the fact that we should discuss the banquet.
Now, I have to make a mark for membership and try to hit that by the start of the school year.