Scoutmaster

Milestones

I started blogging here to talk about Scouting in general rather than chronicle my particular experiences. However today was memorable in several ways.

I had the honor of presiding at a Court of Honor and presenting four of our Scouts with the rank of Eagle. But before the Court of Honor got off the ground to my utter surprise my fellow leaders took over the proceedings for a few moments to celebrate my twenty-fifth year as Scoutmaster. I received a mayoral proclamation, an extraordinary service award and several very generous gifts. Naturally I was very appreciative and touched by the recognition.

The next surprise was an even more significant honor when one of the Eagles presented me with an Eagle Mentor pin. He had lost his father quite unexpectedly the year he joined the Troop and took some measure of solace in Scouting. Over time he developed into a competent, gifted leader and a good person. His tribute is tremendously meaningful.

As if this wasn't enough many of my past Scouts and leaders attended the proceedings making the day complete.

At the end of a day like today my wife and I look at each other and comment how fortunate we are to have such good friends and to work with such wonderful families. Our lives are very full and very happy.

Square Knot Resume

The picture at the beginning of my blog shows the front of a Scout uniform featuring insignia known as square knots.

Truth be told I have never sewn these on my uniform because I am not doing this for recognition. As Mark Twain said "It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them." I put them here because they have some 'street cred' in Scouting. Other scouters know they mean a fairly long tenure ( Scoutmaster since 1984), recognition of work I have done at the district and council level, and participation in training. In short; I've done this work faithfully all of my adult life.

Here is what the square knots represent;

Top to bottom, left to right

Silver Beaver
Presented for distinguished service to young people within a BSA local council.

Inclusive Scouting Award
The Inclusive Scouting Award identifies scouters who are supportive of those currently threatened with exclusion from Scouting. Not an official BSA award the knot is worn to promote inclusion and tolerance.
Notes

(6/08) Since I posted this two and a half years ago this square knot has garnered a fair number of comments. Some supportive and some from those who disagree. The most perplexing comments come from those who castigate me for wearing an unofficial award. They seem to miss the mention that I don't wear any square knots to begin with. It's my preference, it is within the rules,  others may certainly do as they please.

(12/08) Many people have asked me how they can get the Inclusive Scouting Award. Unfortunately the folks that offered these are no longer around as far as I can tell. 

District Award of Merit
Awarded for five or more years service to youth in the District. The nominee's attitude toward and cooperation with the district, division, and/or council is to be taken into consideration.

Boy Scout Leader's Training Award
Recognizes that a scouter has completed a course of intensive training.

Scoutmaster Award of Merit
Awarded to Scoutmasters who have a record of proper use of the Boy Scout advancement program, resulting in a majority of troop Boy Scouts attaining the First Class rank, Development of boy leadership through the patrol method, Positive relations with the troop's chartered organization, extensive outdoor program including strong summer camp attendance, positive image of Scouting in the community and a troop operation that attracts and retains Boy Scouts.

I should also mention that I staffed at our summer camp for twelve years in various directorships including two seasons as the camp director. I have worked with literally thousands of scouts and leaders and have administered a staff of eighty counselors. Beyond that I have also staffed many training sessions. I am a Vigil Honor member of The Order of the Arrow.

It has been quite an education.

Why Scouting?

Observe a community or classroom anywhere in the world and you will conclude that boys instinctively form groups, adopt uniforms, establish standards, develop a credo and create initiatory challenges. While most educational systems battle these instincts scouting gives them a means of positive expression. Boys yearn to belong, to gain acceptance and approval outside the confines of their family. Their imperfect search for guidance and understanding is often met with suspicion and misapprehension. In adolescence they try on lots of attitudes and poses paradoxically seeking approval from the adult world in their very rebellion against it. It can be a tough time for everybody.

We all more or less hammered our way through adolescence in whatever way we could. Some had it easier than others. There were some people who made the process more difficult for us and some who helped. That's part of the reason that I am a Scoutmaster - I'd like to help. I like to go camping, I like to teach, and I like to cook over a fire.

Scouting, for all the protestations otherwise, is not an ideology. It is a movement with a program that recognizes how to channel the unstable energies and excesses of adolescence. When scouting doesn't work as it should it is usually adults who have made a real mess of things; it is almost never the fault of boys.

I am a liberal card carrying member of the ACLU, a Buddhist and a stone cold Democrat. Most people would say that Scouting is not a likely fit for me, but I have been at this for just over 20 years now and it fits fine.

At its best the program is inclusive, resilient and able to bring people together. After beginning in Great Britain in 1907 the movement spread around the world. In the United States we have the Boy Scouts of America, a once revered and respected organization that now has a reputation for excluding some people from membership based on a bizarrely narrow and relatively new interpretation of the Scout Oath and Law.

This perplexing situation has led me to reconsider my involvement with such an organization. I concluded that I would no more leave scouting over the current administration of the BSA than I would renounce my U.S. citizenship because I disagree with the current administration of the government.

One stays at it, acts as an agent for peaceful change and has confidence that better times are coming.