On My Honor I Will Do My Best

I rarely, if ever, post about political things.  This is not a political blog.  Our lives are infused with politics day in and day out.  It is hard to insulate oneself from the angst and animosity between the red and the blue and the left and the right.  My ramblings as I sit down and ruminate each evening are an attempt at a therapeutic pursuit to push out the noise of the dog-eat-dog world and long for simpler times in nostalgia and rural life.

Tonight I want to talk about a topic that many deem political, but I think whatever side of the political divide you find yourself on, and even if you disagree with me on some points, you'll agree that the impending demise of the Boy Scouts of America is truly sad and regrettable.

ABC News tells us:

The Boy Scouts of America is exploring a range of options to address it's increasingly shaky financial situation. Those may include declaring bankruptcy, with the more than century-old organization facing rising legal fees due to lawsuits over its handling of sexual abuse allegations.

I don't think ABC News is telling the whole story.  Boy Scouts was once a proud organization that boasted over 6 million scouts.  That figure is now at 2.4 million members and is hemorrhaging members left and right.  There is a reason for the Scouts' "shaky financial situation" and it is self-inflicted.  Boy Scouts of America was a proud institution that was part of turning many young boys into men, providing training and instilling virtues that truly made America a greater place.  It was Norman Rockwell kind of stuff.

My Dad was a Scout.  I was a Scout.  In Houston I was a Webelos Den Leader, and when we moved to Jennings, for years I was a Webelos Den Leader and Assistant Scoutmaster and spent countless hours volunteering.  My oldest son progressed in the ranks and became an Eagle Scout, Boy Scout's highest rank.  My youngest son was a Life Scout, one rank below an Eagle Scout when we all mutually decided that Scouting was no longer operating in the best interests of the boys and instead began to politicize and change everything it once stood for.  It began to be an organization at odds with its founding principles.  We didn't actually leave the Scouts.  The Scouts left us.

Benjamin's Scouting Shadow Box

It seemed as if the national leaders of scouting were sexualizing the organization and turning their backs on Christian teaching that had been part of the Scouts since its inception.  They began to admit openly gay members and leaders and then transgenders into the organization.  Next, they dropped the "Boy" from the name and began trying to attract girls.  This resulted in a costly lawsuit from the Girl Scouts of America.  It became a mere shell of what it once was.  In a textbook definition of mission drift, it left the tenets of its motto, oath and law.

We have fond memories of camp outs and hikes, campfires and mile swims, cooking outdoors and working on merit badges and Russ' Eagle project where he and his troop renovated a Crisis Pregnancy Center.  We planted trees, built rockets and shot them into the afternoon sky.  We marched in parades.  We proudly wore our uniforms to school.  We made up skits and laughed and enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow scouts.  We learned leadership as boys learned to make a budget, plan events, and encourage and motivate one another.  We sang songs in the mess hall, learned to identify trees by their leaves and how to use a pocketknife and a hatchet, how to shoot BB guns and rifles and bows and arrows, how to tie knots and identify constellations and use a compass to find your way around.

We learned first aid and citizenship and how to protect the environment and leave no trace when you were in the woods.  We canoed and fished and learned how to make a life preserver with our jeans.  We carved a Pinewood Derby race car out of a block of wood and raced it.  We applauded each other for hard work of attaining ranks and being awarded badges.  Good, moral men volunteered their time and money to teach young boys skills vital to becoming a man.  Although scouting was way more than awards, I still have most of my badges from over 40 years ago.  Here's one of them:

This is the compass from when my dad was in Boy Scouts.  Although the box is tattered and worn,

the compass within is in pristine condition and still points to true north.

While we will always cherish our memories of scouting, my boys and I lament the fact that the national leadership (despite understanding how to use a compass) lost its direction and way.  The imminent bankruptcy is not only a financial one, but it is a bankruptcy of leadership and morals by those who should have known better.

On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my Country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.