Be A Fire Builder…..

Presented at Circle Up on January 28, 2020

Every Troop, it seems, has a fire builder. This is a person whose first thought in the morning, or on making camp, is to build a fire. He is the boy who kindles a fire almost intuitively in any weather condition. It’s a skill, or an instinct, which is almost independent of rank or experience. We all know who are our Troop’s fire builders.

When you light a fire with flint and steel, you start with the tiniest, most delicate spark. If you don’t do anything after you strike the spark, it will quickly die out. You have to blow on it, very gently at first, until it glows and the heat begins to transfer to the surrounding tinder. If you are skillful and attentive and have worked patiently on the spark, it will burst into flame. That flame can then be used to provide warmth, protection, and light, (not to mention being an essential ingredient in a hot dutch oven peach cobbler).

Most worthwhile human endeavors are like that – friendship, scholarship, citizenship, even marriage and parenthood. They start with a spark, but require careful and attentive nurturing before they will burst into flame and sustain themselves.

Now have you ever noticed on a cold morning at a campout that everyone is huddled around the fire, but there are usually only one or two boys actively working to keep the fire going? Citizenship is very much like that. Everyone enjoys the benefits – the warmth and heat of the fire – even those who are not helping feed the fire. But you also know that if there is no fire builder, that if everyone stands around keeping warm, and no one leaves the fire to get more wood, the fire will die out and everyone will be cold.

My challenge to you as Scouts, is to be a fire builder. Nurture the sparks of character, citizenship and leadership wherever you find them. Use your leadership to ensure that we are a nation by the people, not just of and for the people. The survival of our society and our way of life requires an active citizenship, not people standing around the fire with their hands outstretched.

Reference: http://www.retiredscouter.com/scoutmasters_minutes/wb21741.html