Reflections while Camping

Methods Our typical (if somewhat sporadic) practice while camping is to have a ‘ vespers ‘ on Saturday evening after dinner.

At your next camping trip give each patrol a quotation (I have supplied some below – give all the patrols the same quotation) Patrols meet for a given time, perhaps fifteen minutes or so, and then bring them all together to share their thoughts.

The senior patrol leader leads the next 20-30 minutes of group discussion. He can recognize adults who wish to speak but will ask for some contribution to the discussion from each patrol.

Ideals are like stars: you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the ocean desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny. - Carl Schurz

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. - Thoreau

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. -Nelson Mandela

… it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness but they also lessen our experience of suffering. -The Dalai Lama

If we are committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run; we’ll never know what’s beyond that particular barrier or wall or fearful thing. ― Pema Chödrön

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am a big believer in the ‘mirror test.’ All that matters is if you can look in the mirror and honestly tell the person you see there, that you’ve done your best. -John McKay

I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being. -Jackie Robinson