Don’t Quit!- speech

Ernest Ventura

Professor Jablonski

Speech 101

9Mar2004

Don’t Quit!

I am glad to welcome all of you today into the Exciting world of Boy Scouting.

Joining Boy Scouting takes great responsibility.

Boy scouting is not just another extra-curricular activity for school.

It is more than just joining some organization.

You are present here today because you have the passion for adventure, the desire to learn, and willingness to submit yourself to obey specific laws.

It is a great privilege to speak in front of you on this significant day,

your inauguration day as a scout,

and lead you as we recite the scout oath in unison

On my honor

I will do my best

To do my duty

To God and my country

The republic of the philippines

And to obey the scout law

To help other people at all times

And to keep myself physically strong

Mentally awake

And morally straight.

Today, I am going to share with you my scouting career, the activities & how it helped me go through life.

What a journey it has been. It all started during my first week in high school.

A group of boys were strolling around, familiarizing themselves with the new grounds they’re in when a stranger crossed their path and surprisingly said, “ Hey, I want you all in the headquarters at one o’clock today.”

I was one of them and he was the school’s scoutmaster.

He introduced himself and discussed boy scouting.

It didn’t take him half an hour to persuade all of us to join.

Exemption from Physical Education classes and Citizen Army Training sounded good to me and made me decide to become one of his Boy Scouts.

That was how my scouting career began.

1997: Our first task was about various kinds of knots and lashings. We learned how to build an observation tower out of ropes and bamboos alone. I’ve been actively involved in almost every scouting activity.

The first time the troop went out of town was on September of that year. We had a camping at Poblacion, Passi, not too distant away from the city where we spent our weekend and trekked fifteen long kilometers all over a place of ruthless struggle for survival.

It wasn’t pleasant.

Not because fifteen kilometers is exhausting but because I almost fell down the cliff and died.

I was thinking about abdicating after that.

My fellow scouts,

“When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit --
Rest if you must, but don't you quit!”

1998: I didn’t.

The group went south to an island about fifteen minutes by pump boat away from the city.

It was for a short twenty-five-kilometer odyssey.

We were to walk our way to the beach.

Half of the hikers managed to endure the road and I was one of them.

The other half gave up halfway and rode the jeepney instead.

Everybody realized different things from that experience.

What I learned was that an average walk is about five kilometers per hour. As we get closer to the sandy strip of shore, I was telling myself “I am never going to stride this long again. Never ever!”

That was a leg-breaking activity I couldn’t even believe I participated. “Maybe Boy scouting is just not for me” I told myself.

My fellow scouts,

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a person turns about
When they might have won had they stuck it out,
Don't give up though the pace seems slow --
You may succeed with another blow,

1999: We traveled West to San Joaquin, a faraway town close to the mountainous province of Antique for our survival and rank advancement camp.

We cooked our food by the aid of natural resources including bamboo stick to steam our rice.

Luckily, the scoutmasters didn’t make us rub stones or woods to ignite fire.

They trained us basic first aid and water survival.

My comrade spared my life from drowning.

That year, I gained all the badges needed and passed the board of review for the venturer scout rank.

Future Eagle Scouts, I am confident that all of you will undergo everything that I’ve been through & climb the ladder of advancement in scouting as well.

It is truly challenging to collect all the badges needed for advancement. It requires meritorious effort & sterling personal character to go up one rank and to another,

but based from experience,

the big difference between scouts that succeed and those who don’t is capital D for discipline.

As every school have their student code of conduct,

you have your Scouting code as well.

As a scout,

You will live the scouth oath and law and the scout motto and slogan

You will be familiar with the constitution of the United States especially your rights and obligations as an american citizen

You will share in the responsibilities of your home, school, church, neighborhood, community and country

You will deal fairly and kindly with your fellowmen in the spirit of the scout law

You will work to preserve your country’s heritage, aware that the privileges you enjoy was won by hard work, sacrifice, clear thinking and the faith of our forefathers

You will do everything on your power to pass on a better America through the next generation

2000: My most unforgettable camping was when our school represented Western Visayas in the Millennium Camp at Canlaon City,

which is two hours by water plus three hours by land away.

There we witnessed the real view of the eminent Mount Canlaon.

The very first day, I almost fell down the ground while singing the National Anthem on the opening flag ceremony.

A calamity happened the next day that we needed to evacuate and move our campsite indoor due to a high-intensity typhoon.

We enhanced our scouting skills in the field of fire emergency survival and mountain climbing.

I got drunk and messed myself one night.

“ I swear not to drink again anymore”, as I swore off liquor the next morning sitting beside the swimming pool with my head still spinning.

In one-week time, many things happened, good and bad, and those are the things that made it memorable.

That year, I became an Eagle Scout.

My fellow scouts,

“Success is failure turned inside out!

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt

And you never can tell how close you are

It may be near when it seems so far
so stick to the fight when you are hardest hit!
Its when things seem worst that you mustn't quit!”

We live in the most powerful country in the world. This is the land we call the US of A. The supreme law the land is the constitution and as the scout code says, you shall be familiar with the constitution.

We, the sovereign American people

Imploring the aid of almighty God

In order to build a just and humane society

And to establish a government

That shall embody our ideas and aspirations

Promote common good and secure to ourselves

And our prosperities the blessings of independence

And democracy under the rule of law

And regime of truth, justice, freedom

Love, equality and peace.

Do ordain and promulgate this constitution.

2001: Scouting made a significant influence in building my character and shaping my personality. Boy scouting has taught me things that I can’t get at home, school or church… I graduated from high school and was recognized as one of the Boy Scouts of the year.

Scout’s no that you’ve take your oath, there’s no way out

“Once a scout is always a scout.”+ I may never wear your type A uniform again in my life but as long as I live, the spirit of scouting will be in my heart, always remembering the scout law. Always remembering that

A scout is:

Trustworthy

Loyal

Helpful

Friendly

Courteous

Kind

Obedient

Cheerful

Thrifty

Brave

Clean and

Reverent

Each day, live according to the Scout oath and law.

My fellow scouts, as I congratulate you today, I challenge you to grow, to be always prepared as what the scouting motto says. Be what a Boy Scout should be with or without your uniform. You can do it!!!

And as we always end

May the Great, Great Scoutmaster of all true scouts be with us ‘til we meet again.