Re: Wood Badge behavior
Joseph Alessi (JosephAlessi@COMPUSERVE.COM)
Thu, 8 Jul 1999 12:15:45 -0400
I've thought about this for some time, and have
another perspective that I'd like to add to the discussion.
All scouters make up a universe.
There is a subset of this universe that are rude
and obnoxious.
There is also a subset of this universe who are very
active in scouting.
There is a third subset of this universe that are wood
badge trained.
Therefore, there are four possibilities:
1. Not very active in scouting, polite, not wood badge
2. Not very active in scouting, polite, wood badge
3. Not very active in scouting, rude and obnoxious, not wood
badge
4. Not very active in scouting,rude and obnoxious, wood badge =
5. Active in scouting, polite, not wood badge
6. Active in scouting, polite, wood badge
7. Active in scouting, rude and obnoxious, not wood badge
8. Active in scouting, rude and obnoxious, wood badge
Now we don't notice categories 1-4 very much, simply because
they are not around or taking leadership positions when
things have to be done.
On the other hand, individuals in categories 7 and 8 really
stand out, because they seem to be underfoot all the time.
Now, are there any correlations between these sets? IMHO
there is, since I believe that individuals who are active
in scouting are as a group more enthusiastic about training,
and more willing to make the time commitment that wood badge
requires. Therefore, a much higher percentage of
active scouters are wood badge trained than non-active scouters
(as my kids would say, "DUH!").
Is there a correlation between wood badge training and being
rude and obnoxious? IMHO there is not. I think that the
overall percentage of rude and obnoxious non-wood badge
active scouters is the same as the percentage of wood badge
scouters. It's just that since more active scouters are
wood badge trained, in pure numbers there are more active
rude and obnoxious wood badgers than active rude and
obnoxious non-wood badgers.
There is nothing in the wood badge program that will change
someone from being polite to being rude and obnoxious. There's
also nothing in the program that can change a rude and obnoxious
person into a polite one. One problem is that rude and
obnoxious people don't think that they are rude and obnoxious;
getting them to change therefore is an almost impossible task.
YIS
Joseph A. Alessi in Ozwin 2.30.1
JosephAlessi@Compuserve.com
Vice Chair - Program, Lafayette District
ASM Troop 313, Cradle of Liberty Council
Adviser to the Treasurer, Unami Lodge
I used to be an Owl
