all right i want to welcome everybody
thank you for showing up i wish the
weather could be a little better but you
know be prepared that's what we're here
for
so since we're doing this a little
different
we're not going to have our standard
opening ceremony but i do have our two
arrow of light scouts that are going to
start us off okay
may everybody please rise
may you join me in the pledge of
allegiance i
pledge of allegiance to the flag of the
united states of america
and to republic for which it stands one
nation
under god indivisible with liberty and
justice
for all
please join me in the scout walk
the scout is trustworthy loyal
helpful friendly heritage
[Music]
next
may you please join me in the scout oath
scout is trustworthy
oh yeah on my honor i'll do my best to
do my duty to god in my country and to
obey the scout law
to help with the people of all times
keep myself physically strong
mentally awake and morally straight
please join me in the outdoor coach
as an american i will do my best
to my duties as an american i will do my
best to between my outdoor manners
to be careful with fire be considerate
of the outdoors
and to be a conservation minded
may you please join me in the scout
motto
do best
who stands for will be loyal scouts
all right great job great job guys thank
you very much
and hand sanitizer
all right so as i said this is a very
different day usually we do not do our
bobcat ceremonies when we do our arrow
of light ceremonies but
you guys have been working very very
hard and we thought it would be a great
opportunity to do this outside which we
have never
done before and we'll do this right
before we go on to our crossover with
our arrow lights with our guest mr harry
burnham
so sticking with social distancing
what we're going to do is we're going to
have the families as i call them
come up one at a time and they're going
to start going over towards the cones
this way we can stay you know nice and
safe i will have bags up here
that have individual face paints that
are clean and been prepared and never
been touched to anybody
else if you can't use face paints on
your scout that's perfectly fine we'll
just go
through go through the motions i also
have their badges pinned
as well to the bag so we'll get the
party started we will
start with our newest but oldest scout
lucia if you would like to come up with
your family
and we'll grab a little kit
and don't worry i'll walk everybody
through everything
so right here you can grab a bag
and then if you want to head back right
over towards that end picnic table
next we have alexander
so if you want to come this way we'll
grab a bag
alexander this way yep we're gonna grab
a bag
and take one take one of those okay and
then we'll head back over to a spot over
there
next we have edward right
all right come this way
have a nice little bag set up for you
and your parents right there
and you can go to the cone right by the
bear
next we have gabriel
all right come this way bag
right there i think you can go yeah i
want you to go back over that way
towards alexander
and we got isaac
we got a bag set up for you
next we have jacob
and bag for you
and next we have nicholas
and we have a bag for you
and grab a free cone if you want to head
over by jack and last one we have is
parker
right there last one if you want you can
actually stand right here
which is perfectly fine all right
so today our pack has some scouts who
have worked
very very hard since joining cub scouts
a lot of you have joined last year so i
know you've been working
super duper hard and we have some new
scouts that have joined this year so
welcome
so i've already called everybody's names
but we'll repeat them just in case we
have lucia we have alexander we have
edward
we have gabriel isaac jacob
nicholas and parker everybody has come
forward
everybody's in a safe spot and we're
going to have a little bit of fun
the parents are going to do this this
year instead of mr murphy
okay so we have given you a bag
of face paints those are the colors and
the spirit of cup scouting
does that make sense yeah
all right so as you say each color as
i say each other each color you as the
parents
will paint on the faces of your scouts
okay does that make sense
so obviously i think the kids will have
to have their masks off if you feel
comfortable doing so
if you do not you can just pretend that
we are coloring on their faces okay
all right is everybody ready
so the first color your parents are
going to grab
is blue out of the bag
blue is from the sky the paw print on
the
of the bobcat on your forehead is the
spirit
of the bobcat so you put a little mark a
little paw print on their forehead
this reminds you as scouts to do your
best
on the cub scout trail
foreign
does everybody everybody got their blue
paw prints on their foreheads
everybody looks great excellent
so the next color you're going to take
out of your bags
is yellow yellow
is for the sun the mar the yellow marks
under your eyes will help you see the
light
of the cub scout trail and they
symbolize the bright spirit of cub
scouting
i think
all right i think we i think we have
everybody so the next color you're going
to grab out of your bag
is white
white is for purity the mark
on your nose helps you know right from
wrong
as you go along the cub scout trail
everybody's got their white stripe
perfect
all right next one you're going to grab
out of your little bag is
red red
is for courage the mark on your
chin reminds you to always
speak the truth
all right i think we're ready for the
last color
green is the next one that you're going
to take out of your bag
green stands for the spirit of nature
the marks on each
cheek will guide you to live in harmony
with the great outdoors
all right so now if you guys don't
remember this from last year
you the parents have done a lot of hard
work doing this and i know that bag is
very very very heavy
so you're gonna have to give that bag to
your scout to hold on to right now
everybody give that back to your scout
all right scouts get get ready i need
you guys
you scouts to grab the white
you can grab the white paint
your parents can leave their masks on
okay so do all the scouts have their
white paints
now we notice all your parents have
their masks on right
they're gonna they can keep their masks
on okay
i need you everybody look at me all the
scouts look at me
you're gonna put a white mark right here
right above the mask of all your parents
okay
so the reason why you did this to your
is because white is for love and
guidance
your parents are always here with you in
your heart and in your spirit
they will always do the right thing and
they will help you to achieve all
your scout goals and keep you on track
of life until you are an adult
and can soar with the eagles
alright bobcats you guys have gone
through this
amazing ceremony i have some words for
you
you as the new bobcats have to remember
the marks of this afternoon
and to always have fun along the cub
scout trail
all right so if you guys also notice you
have a badge that is attached to your
bag
okay you guys can your parents can unpin
that
badge from the bag
you don't pin it on yet mr ingraham
so parents this is the question for you
will you
present this bobcat badge to your scout
making them an official scout
i'm getting there so i'm going to assume
that was yes nods of heads
okay this privilege will be yours for
every badge they earn
we expect you will work as hard as they
do on some of the projects
parents will place the upside down
on their uniform on their left
pocket
i'll explain so
when you as a scout or your your parents
notice this or your friends or family
notice this only then
can you turn your badge right side up
meaning
you have done a good deed you have
helped somebody
everybody got their badge pinned on
i think i think that's a yes so i'm
going to ask will everybody in the
audience please rise
and i'm going to have you all help me
recite something so
please repeat after me we the parents of
a cub scout
we the parents of a cub scout promise to
assist our scout
promise to assist us in earning their
cub scout badges
we will be faithful we will be faithful
in our attendance with our pack you know
attendance
assist in every way possible assist in
every way
possible in our s and assist our scouts
to do their best
and assist our scouts to do their best
so let's give everybody a round of
applause
i think everybody's getting some
pictures taken quickly
almost done our pictures almost done
last one
all right so now i'm going to ask our
bobcats and our bobcat families to
please take your seats again
because we are going to shift focus to
our next part of our
ceremony
so what you noticed and what you just
witnessed was the first step and
actually it's the second step for a lot
of these scouts because a lot of these
scouts last year were lion scouts so
they started as kindergarteners and now
they're in first grade
what we're here for today is our era of
light crossover this is the final step
as a cub scout before our cubs
go on to boy scouts so this means they
are in sixth grade or now they're going
to seventh grade
and they have chosen what troops they're
going to do to continue their
their path so we have a very special
guest here today
who's way better of an emcee that i am
mr harry burnham
uh harry has been involved in the
scouting world for
73 years since for 73 years
so as you can imagine this is very
important that we have him here
round of applause the amount of
knowledge
and love that he brings to scouting is
absolutely amazing
so we have two scouts today that are
moving on to boy scouts they are
continuing on and we're all very very
proud of all the hard work that they've
put in and their parents
so with that i am going to turn this
over to harry
to start explaining his ceremony for
welcoming these scouts
and the boy scouts
[Laughter]
[Applause]
so
to our ancestors may their spirit come
to this fire
guide us in what we do today
in all the days that follow
spirit of the north you bring the cold
winds and snows
the snows allow us to track for the game
that inhabit this great wilderness
from the west the west blows
and breathe the warm weather to help our
crops
throughout the summer
to the south with its great travis of
rivers
that bring us the foods of winter
spring summer and fall
and to the east where the great sun
shines bringing
our manitou to life
for the whole day
spirit of the bear
be with those bobcats
spirit of the wolf
be with those who have achieved much
the arrow the light
long ago on this very plot of land
there existed native americans
some of you know them some of you may
not
through our town there's a small river
that started way back up in the north
travis to our town and joined the mighty
river
coming from the mountains and from the
gods
and spirits whoever you know
as beaver we know it
as shinido yes
along its shores they walked
followed it all the way up to the ponds
to establish their little communities
here and there
in my pouch on the very
shores of all that you know as canopy
lake
are remnants of those native americans
you see their history
is our history there's a great city to
the south of us
many of you know it how many know where
penn pocket is
wanna set
anyone
greatest encampment of all
i'm one of those who reincarnate
the great chief who resided there
chief pasa conaway his stature still
stands today
in the cemetery in pentagon
follow that beautiful river the
merrimack
all the way up there's another town to
the west of us
that still bears the name of the native
americans that live there nashua
further north when pasa conway was aged
the government gave to him three miles
on either side of the merrimack
today there's a great brewery sitting
right on his
grave you see where the budweiser plant
and the top of that is in merrimack
was the first grant to a native american
by the white men but there's many
legends that go on
we live in the great state of new
hampshire
but there's a lot of new hampshire that
still retains
that native american accent
how many have enjoyed going to wiz beach
do you know what the name is means
that's why they caught their fish the
fish went into weirs
look it up you young people a wheel was
a
fish trap so they didn't have to use
lining
hook and sinker the fish actually went
into the trap so that was called
weirs because that was a great lake
there too
the great spirit of water
winnipesaukee i grew up
on lake sunapee lake of the wild goose
you see you go further north
and the great spirit is no longer there
but he stood and watched over us as we
grew
we know it as the old man of the
mountains
mount washington is also the most sacred
of all
indian spots for it was there that the
great manner to himself would come and
sit
the scaniqual river souhegan valley
sugar river the connecticut river
you see every day we surround you
but like every other great society
the chief had the awesome responsibility
to bring forth very new
braves he would check
with his brains and with their partners
the mothers to find out
who had the skills who could track
who could cook who could tell
firewood from greenwood who could
identify
the tracks in the snow or in the mud of
what animal had just trespassed
and had he learned the skills of his bow
and arrow
you see we do that today don't we
these young people who we are so
fortunate to have
are precious we teach them all that we
know
and we hope that they learn some of what
we ask
of them because they're going to make us
proud
just as proud as these young men today
so i'm going to take these arrows
spirit of the fire
yellow blue
orange green
enter these arrows
may they guide these young people
forever
now before i came i took
talk to two of the birds that frequent
our area
and believe it or not they really can
talk
the blue jay the blue jay
is the warner she's the one that flies
just ahead of the hunter
or those who are on the trail to warn
the other inhabitants of the forest
that we're about comes and sits on my
shoulder and said
there's a small town in southern new
that has two young men who are ready to
take on responsibilities
of a full scout
and on the other shoulder landed black
craven
he talked to me in a year he says that
is true indeed
there are two scouts down in pelham who
are ready
to join the boy scouts
so i asked is there
one oliver jarrett
harder come before me
now because we both have masks on
i'm going to extend to you this arrow
at arm's length so you won't have to
back out about you
right good han's length
hold it across your chest
and wait for my command
now i know this next young guy is
very astute noah hathaway
no you stand by the wolf
noah nathan if you want to go by the
go here by the bear the bear right in
front of the bear
noah this is your arrow now i'm going to
tell you the story of the arrow you can
stand right here by the
pool come down closer right off of the
rugs
you heard that i was in scouting 70 some
odd years ago
my grandfather gave me this arrow
and this is the story told me and i have
not forgotten it
to this very day look at your arrow
noah and nathan what do you see
at the very beginning of your arrow
yeah what's that very what do we call it
an arrowhead there's a story of the
arrowhead
a long time ago there was a young brave
very much like yourself who had been
sent to another village to take a
message
and return along the return
he became very hungry very thirsty
and very tired
as he was walking along he saw a
squirrel on the path
and it said story i can catch that
squirrel start a fire
and quench my hunger
chased out of the squirrel but you know
those little gray squirrels and red
squirrels they're pretty fast aren't
they
right up the tree it went and there's no
way that he could get to that squirrel
disgusted he just kicked the sand and
then he followed along the trail a
little further and there was a rabbit
now surely the rabbit can't climb a tree
i can catch that rabbit
and he ran after that rabbit but you
know what that rabbit went zigzagging
right down a hole
couldn't catch the rabbit now he's
really disgusted
and he's hungry and thirsty and he comes
across a small stream
quenches his thirst and looks in the
water
and sees some fish i never try to catch
a fish in the natural water
with your hands can't do it
they're just so slippery that they can
die away
under a rock or down the stream away
from you
there was a cliff
nearby and remember he was kicking the
sand
and he was really upset with himself
he picked up a stone just like you do
but instead of throwing it into the
water he threw it behind him and hit
the cliff and off the cliff
came a sharp object a piece of stone
now he knew that he took the lace out of
his moccasins
and got a stick and laced it together
he could probe underneath the rocks and
maybe get a crawfish
or something of a frog to eat
and sure he did but you know
even today with all of the skills that
we have
and i'm including your mom and dad with
all of their skills
with our computers and with everything
like that
we can't make another one exactly
like this
you're special you are not
noah ignores not
nathan and even in our family
everybody is different
dad's not mom mom's not
dad brothers and sisters
may be similar but they're not us are
so you see the one i have on mine and
the one you have on yours
are similar but different
so different that we sometimes
don't realize how different they can be
look at that one does that look like
that one
no there has never been another one
exactly like this
so that's why i say you're special be
proud of who you are
and do your best now
can i leave you right now
and hope that everything is well i could
do that
but i know that that's not going to
happen
you know i could put you in my car and
say hey wave to your mom and dad
turn around wave to them see you later
you say see you later
okay i'm going to the gas station down
here
fill up with gas put noah
and nathan noah and nathan into my car
and start driving north
i'm gonna drive until i run out of gas
or nearly so
and at the first gas station i find i'm
going to say
north time for you to get out
see you later
filled up with gas now i'm in canada
way up there maybe by quebec city or
someplace
see you later noah you think that they
would survive
be very via viable citizens
i don't think so it'd be a long hike
back home
it might take a while before they got
here and i'm sure they'd learn a lot of
lessons on the way
if they were able to get back here
so we need some help don't we you see
that long shaft
that long shaft represents all the
people in the pack
and here in the community
yes even the teachers at school
even though they're online they want you
to succeed
mom and dad want you to succeed
all the people in town know this pack
has been successful in the past and they
want you to succeed
now i can put it in my bowl and put back
and it might go forward but it's going
to wobble
all over the place no real direction
so you think that's where we stop with
the arrow what else is on the arrow what
do you see here
fletchings you got beautiful blue colors
and yellow colors
i have white they come in all different
colors
from the front to the back feel how nice
and soft they are might i suggest that
that represents your mom
from the day you were born until the day
that she says goodbye you can always
plan
on mom she will guide you
dad might waffle back and forth a little
bit when you ask him a question
surely the kids down in the neighborhood
i'm going to help you out
but mom will always give you the
straight answer to any question you have
no matter how old you are
look at her deep in her eyes and see how
beautiful she is
take your hand and softly touch her
cheek
and see how soft she is
she's most beautiful now whether you're
at high school
taking a final test in college taking an
exam
in the military taking responsibility
for a company
or whether you're flying to the moon
and have great responsibilities if you
have
a question ask mom
and she'll give you the true answer now
you may not like it
because i have had some of my questions
answered by my mom
i was not really sure she was right
until i did it
then i know she was right
but now i can put it in my bow and it
will go
i can pick any place
in the area and you become very close
one of those boards over there
by the 35 sign now i might hit the one
to the left
i might even hit the one that's directly
in front of the 35
sign but i don't have all of it i
need my arrow might fall short
so there's something up on you arrow
that's very important what's that
the knot good did you do the arrow up
hit
cam cavender or someplace
that's good he is correct it's the knock
i can put the knock in my bow pull it
back
and that bowl all the energy in that
bowl
when i release it it's going to go down
the string
and shoot that arrow forward might i
suggest that that represent your dad
now dads are always
there to support you i can remember my
dad
that i didn't expect to be home when i
came home from school one day
and my mom says would you please take
out the garbage
and i says mom i really can't right now
because we're going to play baseball in
a lot with the rest of the kids
and she said i really need to have that
garbage taken out
before the next words were said
my dad was with the cuff of my neck and
his boot in my butt
pushed me through the screen door and
says you will take out the garbage would
and i certainly took out the garbage
so you see when things get tough
ask dad to help you out he will do
what he can to make sure that you stay
straight
now i can put the arrow in my come here
i can even hit the 35 mile an hour sign
and if i'm really good i can hit the
bottom of the
five put it right in that white spot
you see now you can achieve whatever it
is that you want to achieve
because you have all the support of the
arrow so i suggest to you don't put this
in a closet or underneath your bed
put it where you can see it every day
and remember
you're special a lot of people behind
that want you to be successful mom will
guide you
and dad will help you along this way
so i want to congratulate you both
for the many achievements that you've
made so far i would ask the parents of
these two young men
to come and stand behind them
with a scalp master a cup master
please present them with their trophy
plaques
and their arrow light we have the arrow
like
symbols okay
no where's your mom
the plaque that you hold shows the sun
with the seven rays
the seven virtues that you learned
i want to ask you one question
is that sun setting or is that sun
rising
rising what do you think rising
that's the correct answer that i'm
looking for rising
because before long when these clouds
cover us even more and the sun goes down
in the west
it's going to become dark
whatever you started out to do today
you have limited time to accomplish and
chances are
you won't accomplish it but you know
what as in the past
every day that comes the sun rises again
and that day we can do all the things
that we missed the day before
and accomplished even more so that's
what that sun
represents to you you're our rising hope
for great citizenship so keep
on doing what you do the best
and keep doing what scouting does the
help others be prepared do a good turn
daily
parents unfortunately because the
epidemic we don't have the little cloth
badge
i would like all those who have the
arrow white badge on their tunics
scouts and scouters come and just make a
line behind us
right here
i want you to see how tall and big
and strong these young people have
become
some have become dads
some have taken their place in the
community
summer is a leader in the school you too
can do that
the arrow of light is for life
so where you were it's the only badge
that you can take from the cub scout
program other than a religious knot on
to the scouting program
on to adult scouting so we're very
proudly
like the bear the bear that we're so
familiar with when hitler spawn
weighs less than a pound it spends the
whole winter and
summer or spring nurturing
with his mother
but once it gets out of the den it grows
to be one of the most
strong most beloved
and most feared of all the woodland
creatures
just like a scout the wolf
always lived in a pack with a leader
called tequila
that pack stayed together
work together like our community
so too i want you to do that
that being said turn and face your
brothers
who have the arrow of light
gentlemen congratulations on the arab
white
and continuing to honor the promises
that you made
so long ago thank you very much
at this time i'm gonna close the
in honor of all these scouts and you
scouters out there and all of you
new bobcats are fantastic
i'm going to do it with your permission
and interpretation of the lord's prayer
you may now retire to your areas if
you'd like
hey
we're
oh
is
me
three
listen to my partying song for it is
very emblematic
of the scouting program
shut that off
at this time we'll have the crossover
from cub scouts to boy scouts
on the left side of the tree they follow
the cubs that are crossing over along
with their parents
line up on their left side of the tree
all the boy scouts from the troop
and the leadership on the right side
um
the spirit of wolf will go with you
today as you cross over
you may cross over past the tree and
join the new scots
come on yeah just unbutton them
it's easier for them to slide them
wait until your name's gone
congratulations
and we have noah
any words from the scout master
i'm willing to stay in regalia uh they
want to get some pictures
there's so few they can all get a
picture if they want i don't have a
problem
so congratulations to our newest arrows
of light
boy scouts congratulations
so a couple special thanks we want to
thank mr burnham for coming and
officiating this
important ceremony and thank you to you
as parents for
believing in the program helping your
sons and daughters advance through this
program i mean this is this is what the
future holds for our young cubs
so please stick with it mr burnham has
offered
picture availability social distancing
please
and thanks for being changed agile and
and working with the committee
uh we've the committee has grown quite a
bit and without your help
as parents in the committee we would not
be where we are today so thank you very
much
for everybody helping us so if everybody
wants pictures
pictures are available and that
concludes our ceremony thank you
everybody
you guys work with andrew let's get the
tables back underneath
guys
i just i just want one picture with your
brother