Consequences of Your Decisions
The End of Your Rope
I was on a campout with a bunch of scouts. Around the campfire one of the leaders, an old cowboy, got out a length of rope and called over one of the scouts. He told him to take hold of the end of the rope and then pull it through his hands until he got to the other end. He then pulled the boy close and whispered something in his ear and then said aloud, “think about that for a moment.”
I was intrigued when he called over another boy and handed him one end of the rope. He told him to do the same thing as the first boy, to pull it through his hands until he got to the other end of the rope. Again, he pulled the boy close, whispered something in his ear and then said aloud, “think about that for a moment,” then he added. “Don’t tell anyone what I said.”
At this point all the boys were paying attention. He called over another boy and had him repeat the same things, whispered in his ear, and said, “think about that for a moment.”
This leader repeated this with every boy while I sat in astonishment as these twelve and thirteen year old boys sat around the fire, quietly thinking about what the leader had whispered in their ear.
Finally, all the boys had taken their turn with the rope and the whisper. The leader turned to me and said, “you want a go?”
I stood up and grabbed the proffered end of the rope, and like all the boys, ran it through my hands until I reached the other end. All the while I was trying to figure out what this leader was doing, what the point of this exercise was.
I eagerly bent down to hear the whispered secret, “when you pick up one end of the rope, you also pick up the other.” Then aloud, “Think about that for a moment.”
Thinking, I sat back down and stared at the crackling fire along with the rest of the boys. Then the leader spoke.
“What do you boys think I meant?”
There was a bit of silence, then one boy said, “When you pick something up, like drugs, or pornography, you also have to accept the consequences that come with them. You know at the beginning what the end is likely to be.”
Such wisdom in a young man! I thought.
“There’s also a positive side,” the leader said. “What about when you pick up something positive: like exercise, a good job, or working hard on your schooling?”
Another boy jumped in, “You get the result of your work. You get rewarded because you started right. If you follow through all the way to the end, go all the way to the “˜end of the rope’, you get what you started out wanting to get.”
Again, I was amazed at the insights of these young men.
“Exactly right,” the leader said. He was silent for a moment then asked another question. “How can you boys use this principal in your own lives to get the positive things you want and avoid the negative?”
“If we know where we want to get in life,” another boy said, “we need to figure out the beginning “˜end of the rope’ that gets us there, and then pick it up and follow it all the way through to the end.”
“Perfect.” The leader said. “And now you all know one of the biggest secrets to having a happy and successful life. Always remember that when you pick up one end of a rope, you also pick up the other.” He reached behind him and pulled out some graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars. “Smore’s anyone?”
That’s all it took to teach a profound lesson, not only to a bunch of young boys, but to me as well.
