A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox!
The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the sand. With a bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was very huge.)
When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the little wall. Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox.
The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, and shoved; but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers. Finally he burst into tears of frustration.
All this time the boy’s father watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded. The moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy’s father.
Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?” Defeated, the boy sobbed back, “But I did Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!” “No, son,” corrected the father kindly, “you didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me.”
With that the father reached down and lifted the rock from the sandbox. Now, apply a moral to this story: help the boys identify where ‘All their Strength’ is (God, Family, Friends, Scout Leaders…)
Editor’s note: This was originally submitted with a moral identifying the Commissioner Staff as source of strength for Scouters. We modified it a little so that you can add your own moral.
Another Variation
Another way to do this is to haul in a big log or rock to a patrol meeting, and ask the senior patrol leader to lift it above his head. As he hefts it and throws his weight behind it, he’ll realize the impossibility of the task.
As the leaders encourage him to use ALL of his strength, he’ll eventually realize that his friends and leaders can help support him. With the strength of the group he can easily accomplish the task.