Re: "Making" OA(Was Re: <no subject>)
Branden Morris (morris@NET1PLUS.COM)
Sun, 18 Jan 1998 01:50:48 -0500
At 10:31 PM 1/17/98, "settummanque, or blackeagle (Mike Walton)"
<blkeagle@DYNASTY.N wrote:
>I'm crossposting this to Arrow-L because of the nature of the question;
>hopefully, this will serve as a starting point for discussion over there
>into "how do you explain what the OA is to a parent?"
>
>Carl Westfall asked a good question.....it's a question that a lot of
>parents are asking their Scoutmasters and some of them are not getting a
>very good response:
There's no reason why an active OA member, or a Scoutmaster, shouldn't be
able to give a good explanation of the Order of the Arrow. If they aren't
able to sum up their own OA experience, they have some excellent resources
available for them to use. These resources include:
1) The Boy Scout Handbook, which contains a concise description of the Order.
2) The Order of the Arrow handbook, which contains the history and purposes
of the Order.
3) Local councils have available to them for distribution pamphlets and a
video produced by the Marketing and Communications Subcommittee of the
National Order of the Arrow committee specifically designed for parents and
non-members about the OA's purposes.
4) A local lodge's youth officers and adult advisers are available to
answer questions about the Order of the Arrow.
>>My son just made 1st Class and keeps talking about making OA. Can
>>someone give me a little information on exactly what Order of the Arrow
>>is, what they do, and how you get in.
>
>What IS the "Order of the Arrow"?
>
>First, it is NOT the "Arrow of the Arrow", the "Arrow of Light" nor the
>"Arrow Order", as some past personal postings to me have stated.
>
>The Order of the Arrow (OA for short) is the Boy Scouts of America's
>national camping and leadership honorary. The Order has four stated
>purposes, the most important in the minds of most Arrowmen (the name given
>to members of the OA, male and female) is of giving service to others.
The purposes of the Order of the Arrow are:
* To recognize those campers - Scouts and Scouters - who best exempligy the
Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives, and by such recognition, cause
other campers to conduct themselves in such manner as to warrant
recognition.
* To develop and maintain camping traditions and spirit.
* To promote Scout camping, which reaches it greatest effectiveness as a
part of the unit's camping program, both year-round and in the summer camp,
as directed by the camping committee of the council.
* To crystallize the Scout habit of helpfulness into a life purpose of
leadership in cheerful service to others.
The local OA lodge also has a mission statement:
* The mission of the lodge is to achieve the purposes of the Order of the
Arrow as an integral part of the Boy Scouts of America in the council
through positive youth leadership under the guidance of selected capable
adults.
>In particular, service to others within the OA takes on two or three
>specific areas: service to the local Council, as escorts and
>representatives of the local BSA Council; service to the local Council's
>camping and/or outdoor facilities, as workers and constructors of the
>camping facility for the summer season as well as to organize new outdoor
>facililites for campers and hikers. Some OA Lodges (the organization which
>serves at the pleasure of the local Council Scout Executive and Council
>Executive Board) take on additional service to units as provisional leaders
>at camp or to assist local Councils in organizing and extending Scouting to
>new units.
Service rendered by Arrowmen is too diverse to categorize into two or three
areas. Most service is rendered in support of the camping program, but
local lodges have met local needs in providing service to the council and
units. A current national service will be that the OA is leading the BSA
commitment to provide 200 million hours of service by the year 2000, in
response to the Service to America service project.
>The OA is nominative in nature....members are elected by their Scout member
>peers after meeting some short and longterm camping requirements as well as
>becoming a First Class Scout as you've stated in your question. Once a
>year, the members of your son's Troop will elect members to the OA. The
>election results are normally not announced until the District or Council
>camping program in the spring, or until the start of the summer camp program
>during the early summer.
>
>If your son is elected to the OA, he must participate in an outdoor
>experience outside his Troop along with other candidates. This event takes
>place normally at the Council's summer camp facility or some other Council
>facility; however, it can and has been done at other locations throughout
>the local Council area. After the completion of this 24 hour Ordeal and
>participation in the Ordeal ceremony, he becomes a member of the Order of
>the Arrow and is entitled to wear a special patch on the right pocket flap
>of his uniform or jacket pocket. These "flaps" become the most prized
>possessions of an Arrowman and becomes the catalyst for a lot of service to
>his unit, his District and Council, and to Scouting and his community.
>
>It also starts him onto a sideline of "collecting and swapping" those flaps
>for other Lodge's flaps!
>
>The OA also is something of the individual, Carl. While there are many
>Arrowmen that have participated in the Ordeal ceremony and have completed
>the Ordeal, and whom are wearing the flap emblematic of membership, they
>have done very little in the way of truly participating in the OA. In other
>words, they have "made OA" as if they have completed a merit badge or
>advanced a rank; with little thought as to why his fellow Scouts elected him
>to membership in such a special organization.
>
>This is the time to sit down with your son, Carl, and while your should
>encourage him to be eligible for OA membership, you shouild also encourage
>him to THINK about WHY he wants to be an OA member.
So far, so good :) Too many members don't become active as Arrowmen; not
active in the sense of attending lodge events, but not active in
recognizing why they were elected, and not magnifying their service to
Scouting. For OA leaders, the inspiration and activation of members is a
continual, if rewarding, challenge.
>Not ALL OA members get
>to wear the outfits of the ceremonial or dance teams.
The opportunity is certainly there. I would love it (as a ceremonies
adviser) if every member of the lodge wanted to do ceremonial parts. :)
>Not ALL OA members get to take part in the National OA Conferences.
Again, the opportunity is always there. Although cost of attending a
national event may seem prohibitive, OA advisers are committed to making
sure that any interested youth can attend events.
>Not ALL
>OA members get to participate in special flag ceremonies within your
>Council....but ALL OA members get to work hard to be of service to others.
>ALL OA members have an "obligation" to be and do for other people whenever
>they can and without grumbling or complaining about it.
>
>In a very small way, Carl, the OA is a demonstration of the finer qualities
>of the Scout Motto and Slogan in real, practical life.
I'm not sure I'd call it a "very small way," but...
>OA members all over
>the country wear the flap and backpatch; not a lot of them demonstrate why
>they were elected every day.
>
>One does not "Make OA"; the Order of the Arrow "makes" the person that is
>chosen to experience additional leadership and followship experiences and
>the OPPORTUNITY to be of service to so many others.
>
>Without flinching.
>
>I wish your son Good Luck toward his goal of becoming an OA member, and
>thanks for your question....betcha didn't get this kind of answer from your
>son's Scoutmaster, did you??
If he didn't, one should ask the Scoutmaster, "Why not?"
Yours in Scouting,
Branden Morris
--
Branden Morris morris@net1plus.com
http://www.net1plus.com/users/morris/branden.html
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
