Howdy…
The following was posted to Facebook over the last few days by one of our Scouters – Shane Crotty.
It AMAZINGLY sums up what we’re all feeling after camp – and is well work a read. Kudos Shane
‘Kids are getting worse’
I’ve heard that before, and no… no, I don’t think so. Over the past
two weeks I’ve spent with the Douglas & St.Finbarres Scout Group in
Adelboden, Switzerland, I’ve witnessed and have come to attest that that
idea couldn’t be any less true.
The statement ‘Kids are getting
worse’ is a sentiment reserved solely for the cynical and pessimistic
amongst us, the ones who look at kids on bikes, kids on trees and kids
hanging out and assume the worst in them because they’ve forgetten the best in themselves.
The past two weeks showed me that some kids aren’t merely getting
better, they’re leapfrogging even some of the best and brightest in
current and older generations. They’re showing us that the virtues that
we take for granted, respect, honesty, duty and hard work, courtesy and
love of nature are alive and well in young people. I’ve been reminded
that the most thoughtful lessons aren’t always passed down through the
generations, sometimes they are passed ‘up.’
I’ve been reminded
that many of us as we get older often forget the way we were as kids and
lose an essential essence of ourselves in order to grow up while
forgetting that the most old at heart amongst us are usually the ones
that aren’t afraid to be young in spirit.
The Irish seanfhocal
‘níl thagann ciall roimh aois,’ (‘sense doesn’t come before age,’) was
the saying that really stood out to me over the past year, as most
seanfhocail do, but after two weeks in Adelboden, Switzerland, I’ve come
to the conclusion that it doesn’t make any sense at all!