I was so excited to present stanza 6 of the Creed because it is by far my favorite line. I think it is important for the CCs to grasp the value of this stanza and apply it not only in their experience as an orientation leader, but also throughout their day-to-day life. Here’s what George Petrie tells us: “I believe in the human touch which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.”
I really wanted the CCs to think about this stanza in a way they may never have thought about it before. To do this, I began by having them focus in on one word of this stanza—the verb “cultivate.” I asked them to think about why Petrie chose this word instead of another one like “causes” or “produces.” This led into asking them what they thought of when they heard the word “cultivate.” Many of them responded with answers revolving around growth, hard work, nurturing, and encouragement. All of their responses were great! I then went on to give them the Merriam-Webster definition of “cultivate.” Here it is:
– 2 a : to foster the growth of <cultivate vegetables>
– 2b : culture
– 2c : to improve by labor, care, or study : refine <cultivate the mind>
– 3 : further, encourage <cultivate the arts>
After giving them this definition, I made the point that this means the human touch requires effort! In order to produce sympathy, mutual helpfulness, and happiness amongst their group of camp counselors and amongst their campers in the summer, they have to be willing to encourage it and labor a little for it!
At this point, I had them discuss two questions with the person sitting next to them: 1) what are some ways that we can cultivate sympathy, mutual helpfulness, and happiness amongst our group—the CCs? And 2) what are some ways that they could cultivate these things amongst their groups of freshmen this summer? ( I asked them to think about it from a camper’s perspective… what are some ways that they would appreciate their counselor reaching out to them if they were a freshman?)
After discussing their responses to these questions in the large group again, I ended the training by giving them a challenge of sorts. I based this challenge off of a movie that revolves around the power of the human touch: Pay It Forward. I showed them a clip from the movie that explains this “pay it forward” idea that the main character had—he would do a good deed for three people, without asking anything in return. His only request would be that they “pay it forward” to three other people. I adapted this idea for our group of camp counselors in order to encourage sympathy, mutual helpfulness, and happiness amongst our group of CCs. Basically, I created a chain that would run throughout our group during the following weeks by assigning them each one person that they would be responsible for. The way it works is that one CC would start it off by doing something nice for their assigned CC. Then that CC would “pay it forward” by doing something nice for someone else. They seemed enthusiastic about the idea, and I think its going well because I myself have already witnessed several presents being left in our office for other CCs to pick up! Hopefully this activity will help to foster the spirit of the human touch in our group!