April 2006 Cub Scout Roundtable Issue |
Volume 13, Issue 9
May 2007 Theme |
Theme: Cubs and Bugs
Webelos:
Outdoorsman & Artist
Tiger Cub Activities |
CUBMASTER'S MINUTES
Training Fleas
Trapper Trails Council
Do you know how they train fleas? They put them into a glass jar with a lid. Then the fleas try desperately to get out. They keep jumping up hitting their heads against the top of the lid. Soon they don’t jump quite as high.
Soon you can take them out of the jar and put them into an arena. As long as the side of the arena is lower than the lid was on the jar, the fleas will never jump out. They got tired of hitting their heads against the top and soon never jumped that high again for fear of hitting their head again.
Boys can be like fleas. If we put a lid on some inappropriate activities, we may teach them to never do them again. But we must be careful that when it comes to learning and growing we keep the lid off the jar so that they never learn to limit their creativity.
Closing Thought
Trapper Trails Council
One of America’s greatest conservationists, Aldo Leopold, said: “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, but He is no longer the only one to do so. When some remote ancestor of ours invented the shovel, he became a giver. He could plant a tree. And when the axe was invented, he became a taker. He could chop it down.” Thus each of us possesses the power to create or to destroy. Let us use this power wisely for the good of our Country and all mankind.
Undiscovered Secrets
No matter where you live, there is a world of undiscovered secrets of nature waiting to be explored. Farmers and naturalists are students of nature. A naturalist stands like Columbus on the prow of his ship, with a vast continent before him. Except that the naturalist’s world can be at his feet. It is as near as your back yard, a nearby park, woods, or the fields of a local farm. All kinds of insects, birds, plants, and other forms of life inhabit these lands. Continue exploring the world of nature and you will find many wonderful things that God has given us to enjoy.
BUGS AND THINGS
You can learn a lot about life by watching insects. Have you ever taken time to watch a colony of ants? They are always busy, working together, doing what needs to be done without complaining.
The Greek writer Aesop told a story about the ants and the grasshopper. All summer long the ants worked hard to gather and store food for the winter. Meanwhile, the grasshopper wasted its time, playing and singing in the long grass. In the fall, when the rain came and the cold wind blew, the grasshopper became hungry and asked the ants for something to eat, but by that time the ants only had enough food for themselves.
There is an important lesson in this insect story for us. Work is a good thing. It brings a sense of purpose and accomplishment to our lives, and we all need that. And working together with others – like the ants do – makes it possible for us to get more done than we could do by ourselves. There is a time for playing and singing, but there is also a time for working. Always make time in your life for both.
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