Paul Theroux - Refuge in the Boy Scouts

Eagle Scout and author Paul Theroux writes about his experiences as a Scout in this New York Times Editorial :

... I can still recite the Scout Oath (“On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty...”), and the 12 points of the Scout Law (“A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful ...”); but I equivocate, because when I was a scout the abstractions of “values and ideals” mattered less to me than simply getting out of the house and away from the folks. Troop 25 in Medford, Mass., showed me how to make that elemental move.

We were only incidentally committed to being “physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” We were black, white, thin, fat, rich and poor and united in being geeks. We rather disliked our uniforms. We knew we were different. Not one of us was good at throwing a ball or swinging a bat. Though we lived in suburban Boston, with its two Major League Baseball teams, I doubt that any of us could name a single player.

But we were keenly aware that being a Boy Scout allowed us to shoot guns, build fires and take overnight camping trips on our own. In every sense it was revenge of the nerds. You have a curve ball; I can hit a bull’s-eye with my .22.

We were bookish, but in nonacademic ways. My interests were fingerprinting, Native-American skills and customs, rock climbing, map reading, canoeing and marksmanship. All of those represented merit badges that I studied for and earned. My Indian Lore badge taught me more about that aspect of American history than I was learning at school...

...I found refuge in the Boy Scouts, and an outlet for my love of hiking and swimming and solitude. It was important for me to separate myself from my parents. While other mothers and fathers cheered on their children at ballgames, we were on our own — two or three of us on an all-day hike, or target shooting up at the Stoneham sandpits.

Even Scout camp involved minimal authority, and its relative chaos was salutary. I earned badges for rowing and sailing — skills that have served me to this day. My lifesaving badges and Red Cross certification not only got me jobs at ponds and swimming pools in the Boston area, but enabled me, over the years, to rescue a number of hapless swimmers. The summer beach and the wooded path were as formative in making me a writer as the public library...

...Then, and later, when an adult mentioned the Scouts with a snobbish snigger, I would think: you have no idea. I also thought: you’re afraid to let go of your children. Liberated by the Scouts, I had the confidence to be independent and was allowed to discover my identity in a way that I never could have through team sports.

Theroux eloquently captures one of the most visceral aspects of Scouting; sheer freedom and self determination. His evocation of this fundamental influence in his life inspires me to redouble my efforts as a Scoutmaster to assure my Scouts experience this sense of independence.

In a single sentence he dismisses the broad brush some have employed in the aftermath of the recent decision against the BSA in the Oregon abuse case;

There are ethical Boy Scout masters, too. Yet nothing is so satisfying to the lazy mind as news that reinforces a negative stereotype.

He then observes;

Sexuality and religion were very far from being the core of my Boy Scout experience. And yet the question of Scouting’s ban on homosexuals and atheists is an important one. The paradox is that the Scouts, with its diverse group of boys, can easily accommodate them ... The Boy Scouts would be doing a great service if it made a few adjustments (as it did after the era of segregation) and acted on that crisp acknowledgment of inclusiveness. Far from eviscerating its principles, accepting gays and atheists would strengthen them... Some boys are gay and some don’t pray. Not only are such boys capable of being good scouts, but the recognition of such traits would help to make their fellow scouts more tolerant, especially at that awkward age.

A simple observation arising from logic rather than strident advocacy. Not a demand, not a condemnation of the beneficial values he embraced as a Scout but a suggestion that they be fully realized.