Scouting, Volume 50, Number 8, October 1962 Page: 10
32 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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IN
I '
MOMENTS
By DONALD t. PETERS
Supreme moments for boys, moments
to Jive by, moments on which
to butid—such moments
ore reodUy ovmfoble
in Scoutintj's
:.octive:. pro^rorr*:.
s
WHAT MAKES A BOY PREFER ATHLETIC competition
to a back-street brawl ? What makes a boy pre-
fer building an electronic computor in his base-
ment to '"riding around looking for action"? Accepting
the hand of a new friend to jeering and bigoted name-
calling? Or standing tall to slouching, perpetually lop-
sided ?
What makes a man a constructive citizen, a leader,
working consistantly in the interests of his community
and his nation? How does a person become what he turns
out to be?
A child arrives on earth with certain predispositions
or tendencies to respond to various situations in particular
ways. Then experiences take over in molding the child
toward the adult he will be.
During early years, the child develops more basic
framework, a concept of his self, and a relationship with
members of his family. By the time he is of Cub Scout
age, he is reaching out beyond his family for some of his
experiences. Later, as a Boy Scout and an Explorer, he is
well on his way in learning to stand on his own two feet.
Dreams of climbing mountains, of camping in the
wilds, and of exploring many other adventurous realms
of the adult world are no longer afternoon fantasies.
They are within reach. Older boys have the capacities to
prepare for, to enjoy, and to learn from such experiences.
This assumes that adults make the experiences available
and are willing to help boys prepare for them.
However, when a boy does not have these experiences,
either because they are not made available to him or
because he feels inadecpiate to participate, the sour-grapes
mechanism often swings into play. He decides it isn't
worth doing, anyway. Consciously or unconsciously, he
denies that these experiences are of any worth at all. and
he may rigidly cling to this attitude for the rest of his
life.
Among boys' countless experiences are many of little
consequence when taken by themselves. Their only sig-
nificance may be that they add up, eventually, and are
part of a chain of events leading to other effects.
A
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 50, Number 8, October 1962, periodical, October 1962; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth331735/m1/14/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.