Pack life is the assembling and ordering of the record of
and requisites for
the journey that is our lives.
So – not all of our activities will fit in to only one of the four boxes - Body, Mind, Spirit, Community. In fact, a very real hope is that items will overlap any one box, but that reflection – an important part of Pack life – will show where growth has been.
Let’s take a few examples.
When my son was in his teens, he learned to fence, sabre. In fact, he became quite good at it. Every week, sometimes twice a week, I would drive him to training. I became intrigued by the sport, and a bit tired with the work that I took with me every time. So I took the sport up as well.
I loved it! In fact, one of my proudest possessions is the veteran’s medal that I managed to win in a competition somewhere. (I think it was a day when hardly anyone else turned up!)
So, that will go in the “Body” box.
But I’ve thought about it a lot since (I eventually screwed my knee up and haven’t fought in years as a result). The sense of self-confidence that I gained has stayed with me ever since. I’ve joked that when the going gets tough at work, I envisage myself masked and with a sporting sabre in my hand; and I’m unstoppable! It’s silly, but it’s true.
And I’ve also wondered whether I spoiled my son’s pleasure in being good at something. Don’t get me wrong, I never could match him – let alone beat him! But this was something that was “his” and perhaps I took something of that away from him. So those things go into the Mind box.
And lastly, if you look around a fencing club (it’s called a Salle!), you will see little groups of two or three people sitting together, mending kit, chatting, practicing sword-cuts in the air.
It’s an ageless scene that must go back to the Musketeers, to the Samurai, to the Gladiators, to the very earliest times. The gentleness in ferocity, the discipline in the face of apparent mayhem; that’s a really interesting thing to learn. I put that in the Spirit box.
And so, I shall try to find the missing photo of me in a fencing jacket, with damp and tousled hair, surprised by the delight of sport; and I shall find the medal.
And I shall put them together in a box – real or virtual, it matters not – and then I can dispose of jacket and mask and sabres – with pleasure and no regrets.
Here’s another one.
We holiday in near wilderness as a rule. Last summer, we built a canoe. It’s nearly finished now, so a lot of what we shall explore in our “New Season's Items” is unavailable to us in this instance. But I wrote up the adventure at the time; and it’s not yet over, because the boat isn’t quite completed.
All of our neighbours came to see the boat launched. And they came together in a gentle and supportive way, not to point fingers and to laugh, but to celebrate and to share our delight.
THAT definitely goes in the Spirit box.
