Boy Scout Troop 325

Scoutmaster Minute

November 13, 2001

So You Think You Are Normal, Huh?!

Most of us think of ourselves as pretty normal. Maybe a little better than average, but generally pretty normal. So consider the following:

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, nor the agony of torture, then you are ahead of 500 million people around the world.

If you woke up this morning in relatively good health, you are far ahead of the one million people in the world who will die from some form of curable disease, malnutrition, or starvation this week. Fifty-two million people each year.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you in the richest 25% of people in this world,;75% of the world’s population do not.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish somewhere (or your parents do), then you are among the world’s richest 8%; 92% of the world’s population do not.

If you can read this, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read anything at all. And another two and one-half billion people who are not allowed to read things like this.

So you thought you were normal, huh? You are not, you are among the very privileged few.

Why do we read things like this to you? Not because we want to make you feel bad for all that you have. But because we want you to understand how much you have compared to most of the rest of the people in the world. To be thankful for it, and not take it for granted and assume it is normal. And to realize that you are truly wealthy, and with wealth goes obligation – to do what you can to share some of that wealth, whether it be a little of your money, or a little of your talent, or a little of your time in service to others.

We are born into this world with a limited amount of time. We should do the best we can to be the best we can. And then to share our gifts with others and to leave the world a little better than we found it.

And don’t just plan to be great men some day. Strive to be great boys, right now!

Thank you, and God be with you.