A Bad Night at Scouts
Richard Ickler (ICKLERR@DELPHI.COM)
Tue, 13 Dec 1994 00:04:04 -0500
Tonight I had one of those Scout meetings that I would really like to forget.
Unfortunately I can't. As the Scoutmaster, I really felt like a failure
even though I knew that it was a situation out of my control.
I have really been making an effort to overcome my instincts and allow the
boys to develop their own program with just some oversight. Still, it was
all that I could do to allow the boys to make the disastorous mistakes they
did. It was SPL and PL election night. For SPL they had two good candidates
and one candidate who is popular and a nice guy but this was his first
meeting since June. Guess who won (Mr. Absentee). For Patrol Leader of the
older boys Patrol they had three candidates, one who was qualified, and two
who were ineligible, one because he wasn't First Class which is a requirement
in our troop, the other because he had only been about four meetings over six
months and isn't yet registered in our troop. They elected the one who isn't
yet registered. I'm now going to have to figure out how to deal with showing
them that they made a major mistake without being the "Big Boss".
Fortunately, I have until January because we follow the school holidays.
After that fiasco comes the "coup de grace". Since I took over as
Scoutmaster I have had to deal with an Assistant who really wanted the
Scoutmaster title but wouldn't do the job. Since that time, he has been
constantly playing the kindergartener with wounded pride. He has not missed
a chance to make snide remarks or to resist anything I might suggest. In the
last couple of months he has decided that he (through a surrogate) was going
to do the annual planning meeting. Tonight it was announced that they were
going to a local mountain resort this weekend. This was the first time I
heard about this and when I said that I couldn't go this weekend, ASM's
response was a very sarcastic, "what do you have to do this weekend?" I hope
that they have a fun time but unfortunately that is exactly what it will be
because no one who is going will spend any time on planning. At this point,
I also expect to simply accept whatever plans they make and start over again
as part of dealing with the PLC election fiasco.
I really was close to quitting tonight but I think I still have a few more
months of fight in me before I throw in the towel. Now I just need to figure
out my next move. Any suggestions/comments are welcome. I will also
graciously listen to criticism.
YIS
Richard Ickler
Scoutmaster, Troop 14
Long Beach, CA
icklerr@delphi.com
icklerr@corp.macom.com
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