When golfing was first invented, the ball they used was perfectly round and smooth. However, each time the ball was used, it would get little dents in it from being hit with the iron clubs. The dents didn’t look very good, and probably were thought of as damaging at first. But it didn’t take long for the golfers to realize that the MORE DENTS the ball had, the FARTHER and STRAIGHTER it flew. Soon after, using the dented, experienced golf balls as a model, they began to manufacture balls with the dents already in them.
Thus the balls we have today will fly much farther than any of the first golf balls they started with, because they have learned from the experienced balls of the past. Scouting is a LOT like a golf ball. Each time we learn a new skill, or earn a merit badge, or even when we try to learn something and don’t succeed the first time, it’s like adding another dent or dimple to our ball.
The more skills we learn, the more experience we gain, even if we fail sometimes, the more dented our ball becomes, and the farther and straighter we will be able to soar down the course of our lives. Maybe that’s why most Eagle Scouts seem to soar farther and straighter than others. It’s not the Eagle rank itself, its all the little dimples and dents working up to it that taught him how to fly.
This minute was written to go along with working on the Golf merit badge.