Once upon a time there was a Ranger Outpost that was struggleing.
They had kids showing up.. but not getting involved like the leaders wanted
and the program promised.. On the wall was their large Royal Ranger emblem.
*This emblem didn’t look “normal” because it wasn’t.. It was a “reflecting emblem”
or a true symbol of their Ranger Outpost. The BLUE points had a few two feet out
like spikes.. while some could barely be seen! In the middle was HUGE red points
and center on a small GOLD star…
The Leaders looked sad.. “We just like to focus on what we know and can lecture
with authority on, ..like sports and golf.. cell phone games.. text messageing-
you know- *Stuff the boys enjoy…
*Hummmm.. Check out this original Royal Ranger emblem..
“Whoa- It’s Beautiful! Wow look! all the blue points just touch the edge…
the red point support the GOLD points that rise and are primary! ..and!
what is that? a GOLD Shield in the background? *I’ve never seen that before”
They passed it around amazed.. *Smething they thought they knew.. looked brand new.
“Yes the GOLD points- are four ways a boy grows-Physically,Spiritually, Mentally,Socially..”
What if you shared this “meaning” with the boys..
What if you just assisted them, to deepen the understanding of their Royal Ranger emblem?
How about if you were to do this with kindness, patience, wisdom and Christian love?
Would that restore balance?
Distinction: emblem and symbol
The words emblem and symbol often appear interchangeably in day-to-day conversation without causing undue confusion. A distinction between the two may seem unnecessarily fastidious. Nevertheless, an emblem is a pattern that is used to represent an idea, or an individual. An emblem crystallizes in concrete, visual terms some abstraction: a deity, a tribe or nation, a virtue or a vice. An emblem is an object or a representation of an object.
An emblem may be worn or otherwise used as an identifying badge. A real or metal cockle shell, the emblem of St James the Apostle, sewn onto the hat or clothes identified a medieval pilgrim to his shrine at Santiago de Compostela. In the Middle Ages, many saints were given emblems, which served to identify them in paintings and other images: St Catherine had a wheel, or a sword, St Anthony Abbot a pig and a small bell. These are also called attributes, especially when shown carried by or in close proximity to the saint in art. Kings and other grand persons increasingly adopted personal devices or emblems that were distinct from their family heraldry. The most famous include Louis XIV of France’s sun, the salamander of Francis I of France, the boar of Richard III of England and the armillary sphere of Manuel I of Portugal. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century there was a fashion, started in Italy, for making large medals with a portrait head on the obverse and the emblem on the reverse; these would be given to friends and as diplomatic gifts. Pisanello produced many of the earliest and finest of these.
“The big eat the small”: a political emblem from an emblem book of 1617
In current American usage, police officers’ badges refer specifically to their personal metal emblem — sometimes with a uniquely identifying number or name on it — while the woven emblems sewn on their uniforms identify all the members of a particular unit.
A symbol substitutes one thing for another, in a more concrete fashion:
- The Christian cross is a symbol of the Crucifixion; it is an emblem of sacrifice.
- The Red Cross is a symbol of the International Red Cross. A red cross on a white flag is the emblem of the humanitarian spirit.
- The crescent shape is a symbol of the moon; it is an emblem of Islam.
- The skull and crossbones is an symbol identifying a poison. The skull is an emblem of the transitory human life.
Other terminology
A totem is specifically an animal emblem that expresses the spirit of a clan. Heraldry knows its emblems as charges. The lion passant serves as the emblem of England, the lion rampant as the emblem of Scotland.
An icon consists of an image (originally a religious image), that has become standardized by convention. A logo is an impersonal, secular icon, usually of a corporate entity.
Tags: RR usa