"Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future
generations."  -- George Bernard Shaw, Writer

I had the privilege of being in the final campfire of the 1969 National (United States) Boy Scout Jamboree held in Idaho.  My troop had been chosen at random to represent all the other troops and sit on stage near a camp fire.  Everyone had been given a candle when they entered the amphitheater.  At a command, my troop stepped forward and lit our candles from the campfire, and then we lit the candles of the scouts seated in the front rows.  Those scouts lit the candles of others seated near them.  We faced the campfire again as the flames were passed along while a speaker challenged everyone to take what they had learned during the week back to their communities and pass it on to other scouts.  When he finished speaking I turned to look at the audience.  The sight of thousands of candles spreading over the hillsides surrounding the amphitheater is something that I will never forget.  For years I kept the candle from that ceremony as a reminder of the importance of passing on what I have learned from others and from my own experiences.  Scouting is part of the foundation of my entertainment career.  My first skit performance, my first magic performance, and my first clown performance were all at scout events.  I have volunteered to teach a class in magic for a Scouting training day next month to try to pass some of that on to the newest generation of scouts and potential entertainers.

I grew up in Southern California.  I really did not know most of my relatives because they lived in the Midwest.  I learned some very important lessons through my father's example.  The most important ones were about service to God and to your community.  I have had the opportunity to learn more about my ancestors during the past year.  I have discovered that the value of service was passed down from father to son through the generations.  What I learned from my father was what he had learned from those who came before him.  My great grandfather, M.R. Johnson, was the third person in the State of Nebraska to obtain an optometrist license.  The population was not large enough for him to make a living as an optometrist, but there was a need to be met.  So, he opened an optometrist office in his jewelry store.  His father, John E. Johnson, was instrumental in the establishment of Bishops Hill, Illinois, the first community of Swedish immigrants in the United States.  Service to God and to others was part of the daily life in the new settlement.  The residents of Bishops Hill assisted other Swedish immigrants who then spread out through the Midwest.  So, I have benefited from the lives of those who came before me, even though I was not aware of the source until now.  I am trying to hand on the same lessons to my grandchildren.

Lessons have also been passed down through generations in entertainment.  Many ideas currently being used by entertainers are old ones.  Most entertainers at some point in their career have performed a routine with a Magic Coloring Book.  The basic principle of a transforming book has been passed down for more than four centuries.  It was described in a magic book titled The Discovery of Witchcraft written in 1584.

A candle has to be carefully protected to keep it from being blown out.  That is not true of a torch.  I juggled torches when I performed outdoors at the Raging Waters amusement park.  As the torches sailed through the air I could hear the whoosh of the flames as they grew larger and brighter.  The lessons that have been passed to us from others do not have to be protected.  They are to be used.  The more that we use them, the stronger they will become.  Then we will have something valuable to pass on to those coming after us.

Have you grabbed the torch from earlier generations?  Are you using what they gave you?  Are your life and your entertainment shining brightly?  What can you do to make them shine brighter?  What are you passing on to future generations?