"It is very important to be true to yourself and to not waver as to your convictions are..... I challenge you to hold your head up and to make sure that you are making decisions for the right reasons...because the people who are really going to benefit from what you do with your life is your family and your family name."

"There is a poem and part of it is that people will forget your death and birth, the day you are born and the day that you die, but they will never forget your dash.. and that is true, they will never forget your dash and what you did with your life, they may forget your exact birthdate that you had but they will never forget the legacy that you left here on earth."

"Being and eagle scout to me, is a very important part of my life, it is actually something that the military recognizes and I was awarded rank while I was in basic training for being an eagle scout. It is something that I have carried with me my entire life..and it is something that I have always been proud of.."

" Sometimes you have to be the person who sacrifices yourself so that other people , should be able to live, or to live a better life or things like that, I mean that is what being a part of a family is all about, that is what being a father is all about, that is what being a grandfather is all about, is making sacrifices in your life so that other people can have a better life..."

Ron Young

"Having the history of your family is really important, we have been fortunate in the Haley family to be able to trace our ancestors as you probably know now... back to its African roots, now nine generations. I am a part of the seventh generation and we have two since, and I would certainly encourage all of you to try and explore ways in which to learn more about your family...sometimes you have some surprises and sometimes they are good ones and sometimes they are not."

I am proud of my family and I want to continue having pride in the family. My dad was certainly proud of his family. I am proud of what we have been able to do and will continue to try and do. Now I've gotten to be a fairly old guy but I am going to continue as long as I can to not only do things for the family and what would be beneficial to them but to others as well.

But it's really really good to find out what has happened in your family and then of course to use those experiences for your own benefit and for the benefit of the status of your family, the peers now.. having others who may go on in the future looking at what this family has been.

Sometimes if I do something that I know is not right as the way my ancestors would look at my decision, then that causes me some difficulty too..when we think of our ancestors, what do they think of us? They want us to be good people and do as much as we can to make things better for the family and as we move on out... to the world."

Ambassador George Haley

"My father was a very kind and generous man, he was loved in our community for the good that he did. He ran the grocery store, where many times there were people who needed extra food, he was very generous about that, his generosity to others has influenced my life, it was a part of my family name, to be part of someone who watched out for the needs of others and it was a great lesson that I learned form him.

I am grateful for my grandparents and my parents and the good name they gave to me, and it is my hope that I can live a life in a way that honors that name and that I can pass this great heritage along to my children, so that they will also honor it and feel a obligation to respect that and be good examples and generous individuals in their communities.”

Mike Neider

I’m in public service right now, I deal a lot with foreign diplomats. I am often in a situation where we are trying to get along with someone from a different country, find ways in which to be good friends with them... when I remember that story (from my family history), I remember the most important thing in a good relationship is to be fair, and that when you are striking a deal, a bargain. It is not about taking advantage of someone it is about finding the place where you can both be happy. I learned that from my family history that my great-great grandfather wrote many years ago.

When I was thirteen, I had the chance to go to a National Boy Scout Jamboree in Valley Forge Pennsylvania. They had an obstacle course that each of the scouts had to run, and part of the obstacle course you'd climb over a wall or you would do a monkey bar and then come up to a wall and jump over it, but there was a rope that was hanging over a big mud puddle and you had to run up and jump out, grab the rope and swing across the mud puddle and land on the other side.
Well I, ran up, grabbed the rope, fell into the mud puddle. I got out of the mud puddle, I was embarrassed and I went back, ran , climbed, jumped onto the rope, fell into the mud puddle, it happened about three or four times. Finally, about the fourth time, I ran out, grabbed the rope, swung and made it to the other side. I was still embarrassed, my feet were muddy, some of my friends had laughed, but this leader whose name was Eric Snow, an older man.. had white hair.. he pulled me aside and said 'I can tell that you were a little embarrassed about that, but I want to tell you how much I admired the fact that you just kept trying' and then he taught me a lesson... he said 'there will be a lot of times in your life when you will fail, but if you will just get out of the pit and run back and try again, you'll ultimately get across.' I have found that to be true in my life, you don't always succeed the first time, but when you do, there is a sense of satisfaction and in many cases it is just the willingness to keep going. That is a value I learned as a scout."

Mike Leavitt

Lavell Edwards

"The youth of today's world have become accustomed to a whole new media of communication and if we are to effectively reach them, we need to utilize the new tools and means that they will be attracted to. This in particular will mean utilize visual media such as computers and the Internet to appeal to them."

"The DVD by Scout Media is a combination of the best of Scouting put into a completely new format to appeal youth who have been raised in a digital world. There is a risk that Scouting becomes less attractive to a digital world and more tools that help present Scouting in a highly positive way in a technologically advanced format will help continue to move Scouting forward."

"Our youth see far too many poor role models in the world today, who in many cases are held in high esteem. Our youth need more exposure to great role models who exemplify great character in such a way that our young men are drawn to them and desire to emulate their good traits.....In the face of the challenges presented by the negative aspects of the world today, we need Scouting to help pull them back to loftier ideals."

The importance and power of family influences can and does make an enormous difference in the lives of our youth. It is for this reason I want to stress the importance of traditional scouting values and their association with Family History and Genealogy.

In today’s turbulent world, there is nothing as powerful to a young person as knowing where he has come from and where he is heading.... We carry much of the same DNA of our forbearers, if they have been able to overcome great obstacles and tribulation then is it not within our capacity to also rise above and conquer our every foe?...Genealogy and the searching for records for those who have passed away often help us uncover traces of greatness.

To some, family history and genealogy have not yet come to life. As for me when I think of family history and genealogy I think of my grandfather and those who helped pave the way for me. I owe a huge debt to those great men and women. The method to repay them is by living my life in a manner which would be pleasing to them.

One of the goals we have had in introducing this new set of tools is to help us as leaders to use this teaching moments more effectively, to provide a forum to reinforce and pass along traditional values to the next generation. Much wisdom needs to be passed on. Without this wisdom, without adherence to traditional values, our youth, will be tossed to and fro throughout their lives.

There are many great merit badges, but I firmly believe there is nothing more important that we can help our youth understand than knowing their own family history. In that way they will come to know themselves, we can them help them decide what they will do to bring honor to their family name....In a few short years the leadership positions in the world will have been passed to the present generation. Let us do all we can collectively to pass along traditional scouting values from generation to generation."

Dr. Stephen R. Covey