05-29-2018, 11:28 AM
This will sound corny, but my "words to live by" come from something I used to recite in Scouts. The Scout Law is important, and it is something I try to live up to, but the Order of the Arrow provided me the quote. When you join the OA, there is an Ordeal weekend, which is bookended by ceremonies that tell a fictional tale of the origin of the organization. I was one of the principles (characters) in these ceremonies for a time, I was Meteu, the "medicine man" or shaman. My part in the final ceremony in which new members were inducted was to tell the Legend of a young warrior giving of himself to serve his fellow man and his father, the chief, forming a group of brothers around this act of noble courage.
Anyway, the line from the chieftain as he creates the brotherhood is: "For, said he, who serves his fellows is, of all his fellows, greatest!"
The premise of the organization is this line, service above self. The OA was an organization that I really got involved in and it is what kept me involved in Scouting, but were it not for the ideals instilled in me through my experiences with them, I wouldn't have the devotion to public service that I have today. I really feel like my role as Meteu and not just saying that line, but really taking it to heart, made me who I am.
So yeah, probably a bit more than you expected as a response to this, but I got nostalgic writing this.
Anyway, the line from the chieftain as he creates the brotherhood is: "For, said he, who serves his fellows is, of all his fellows, greatest!"
The premise of the organization is this line, service above self. The OA was an organization that I really got involved in and it is what kept me involved in Scouting, but were it not for the ideals instilled in me through my experiences with them, I wouldn't have the devotion to public service that I have today. I really feel like my role as Meteu and not just saying that line, but really taking it to heart, made me who I am.
So yeah, probably a bit more than you expected as a response to this, but I got nostalgic writing this.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
