Good Turn - Pass It On
| Category: | Do A Good Turn Daily |
|---|---|
| Props: | A small stone and a bowl or bucket of water (optional, for the ripple demonstration) |
| Notes: | Works for Cub Scouts and older Scouts. If you have a bowl of water, drop a stone in while you talk about ripples. For the classic story of a single Good Turn that spread around the world, see the good-turn minute about the Unknown Scout. Part of a series - see also good-turn-nobody-saw and good-turn-the-one-that-costs-something. |
When you drop a stone into still water, what happens? (Drop the stone, if you have one.)
Ripples. One little splash, and the rings keep spreading out, farther than the stone ever went.
Good Turns work the same way.
Say you help an older neighbor carry in their groceries. That's one Good Turn. But maybe that neighbor was having a lonely, hard day, and your help turned it around. So that evening, they call their grandson just to say hello. The grandson was having a rough week too, and that call reminded him somebody cared. The next morning he lets someone merge in traffic instead of cutting them off. And on it goes.
You'll never see most of those ripples. You'll carry the groceries, say "You're welcome," and walk home. But they keep spreading anyway.
Some of the biggest things in Scouting history started with one small Good Turn by somebody who never even gave their name. Nobody could have guessed where it would end up. That's the point. You don't get to decide how far a Good Turn goes. You only get to decide whether to drop the stone.
So drop one this week. Then another. You'll never know how far they reach.