Cub Scouts
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LATEST POSTS
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By InquisitiveScouter · Posted
In his soul, every young man longs to know he is worthy... that he has "the right stuff". And he seeks this approval from other men whom he admires. (It is a profound evil that some men use this trait against a youth.) Unfortunately, all men are fallible. One day, the young man is mature enough to realize his approval of himself is what he ultimately needs. He is his own measurer, and harshest critic, because only he and his God know the whole, true story of himself. (And that realization will hopefully lead him on to a deeper truth.) The sooner I can help a youth to realize this, the healthier and happier that young man, and therefore, our society, will be. Even without the trappings of Native American lore, the messages and symbols of the Order of the Arrow have deep meaning. My perception is that, even more than in former times, that meaning is missed by most. I remember when the OA was (generally) for those Scouts who were the finest examples of Scouting. Today, everyone eligible with nights camped and rank gets in... (with a very few exceptions). We use the OA program at our unit level to recognize our Scouts. Even under the current rules, over the past seven years, there were two who were not elected from our Troop on their first go. They took it hard, but when I counseled them, they understood. For both, thankfully, it was a wake up call, and they changed their behavior for the better. This is the (current) way. Under the former way, Scouts were more dedicated to the unit, and performed better, if they wanted the recognition of the Arrow. When their efforts were rewarded, it inspired others to perform better, as well. Placing more of a limit on admission meant that there was, in effect, competition. If you remove all standards, and everyone gets the trophy, the trophy becomes meaningless, and competition (or change of your behavior and performance in order to be selected) dies. -
By BetterWithCheddar · Posted
@AwakeEnergyScouter, I appreciate your thoughtful reply. At that age, there wasn't anything that made me want to retreat from girls. In fact, my developing brain was probably pushing me toward them. Scouting gave me an opportunity to turn that part of my brain off for the weekend and enabled me to better absorb my troop experience. I didn't have to worry about body odor, acne, getting my hair just right, or "peacocking" (strutting around with my feathers out to ward off competing males). I don't think I was any less prepared for my adult life because I had been interacting with female peers in school since I was 5. The BSA just gave me a temporary reprieve from the pressures of puberty and allowed me to enjoy being 12. -
We really old guys likely chuckle, or get annoyed by the complaints about that type of thing. I was 15 and a Life Scout when I was sitting on a log at campfire at old Camp Arataba and guys in nice regalia were moving about in the crowd. All of a sudden a very loud yell in my ear found me being jerked to my feet and pushed to the front of the area where I was "tapped out", and I mean TAPPED OUT. All of us were then taken to get sleeping bags and went off to the woods. Of course that was when most tap outs were done heavily and you might hear the shoulder tap a long way away. We all wore the wooden arrow and if you were judged to violating the instructions you could get a notch in the arrow. Three in theory washed you out. Ten minutes before the end the next day, a friend of mine walked up and asked me something, and I answered. Still someplace is that arrow with one notch. He laughed at me a bit, but that was how it was then. The suspense and solemnity of the ceremonies loomed large, and most looked forward to "maybe" being judged worthy. There were restrictions on how many could be voted in based on troop size and number eligible. We all know how it is now. Still, the program has many high spots still, though harder to get to with all the fear of legal stuff and frankly, pampered kids. -
Your mention of a lack of adults wanting to be in the outdoors reminded me of a post I saw on an OA FB page. A guy went through Ordeal and described it as the toughest thing he had ever done. I was rather shocked. He looks to be about mid-30s. I went through Ordeal at 17 and found it to be easier than a day at Philmont. Frankly, the Ordeal these days is easier than the Lodge induction at my old Catholic camp in southern Illinois. I think it was based on the OA when the camp opened in the 60s and was never really updated. -
The key point here is that fewer scouts (and likely their parents) want to camp ... ... as illustrated here Barry, I used to see that but not anymore. The parents I'm seeing aren't interested. One example is an eagle scout who worked at a high adventure base as a youth. When I said great, we can't wait to have you come on our next campout, he hemmed and hawed and said he doesn't do cold weather. We can take his kid but he won't come on that trip. I used to not worry about what the BSA did because I figured the parents would take up the slack and do scouting, one way or the other. Now, it appears the BSA is saying something we don't want to admit. Too many adults are afraid of the outdoors. Which makes no sense because I see so many RVs around here. But maybe it's that they like the outdoors, but only for a few hours at a time. Certainly not 40 hours on a weekend. I think this change has been going on for a long time, at least a few decades, but it seems to have accelerated lately. It's not like it's everyone. My old troop still has a few scouts that want to do high adventure trips but it's not like 20 years ago when every single new scout wanted to go on klondike because that was the biggest challenge they'd ever seen. Now, there are scouts that have been in the troop for 2 years and still haven't gone on a campout. It's like having a soccer team where half the kids don't want to go out on the field. That's why I told my old troop I was done. I can't figure out how to work with kids and parents that think the meetings are all there is to scouts. I suspect the BSA (or SSA or S,SA or whatever) is also struggling with this. Ten years ago my troop was really strong but probably half the troops in our district were struggling with things like having enough adults to go camping. My old troop is still one of the stronger troops but that's only because the others are on life support. Now, it's like those troops were ten years ago. My guess is the BSA has no idea how to change that. I admit, I don't have any ideas either. I joked about the name change before because, honestly, worrying about what one can't control is unhealthy. The same goes for the rearranging of deck chairs the BSA does with its name. I've finally decided it is what it is and I can't and shouldn't think about changing it.
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