LeCastor

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Courage, or foolishness?

 

Was giving Richard Nixon a pass really worth electing Jimmy Carter and the other liberal excesses of the late 1970s?

 

This kind of thing is why simply doing "the right thing" isn't an adequate basis for making political decisions for big jurisdictions.

I literally don't know how to respond to this statement but I feel like I need to say something. So I'll just say...WOW.

I was born in Plains, GA during the Carter Administration and was held by Jimmy Carter when I was a baby. His presidency is often thought of as "ineffective" by so many but he was/is a good, honest man. And I would prefer if my elected officials were honest and didn't treat people poorly. But I'm a bleeding liberal, obvi...

This is interesting. When Scott Walker was elected governor of Wisconsin I wrote him a letter asking him to uphold the values of Scouting. (He's an Eagle Scout.). He never wrote me back!

Eagle Scouts are human. We all have flaws and politics is a game. I can't get too worked up about it.

Whenever I start getting down about scouts I get away from the adults and spend more time with the boys. Cheers me right up. It's what they do best.

I have to be honest. Sometimes this forum gets me down and I have to leave for a few days. We tend to blow our own bugles a little too much.

But as far as the future it concerned, I wrote a letter to all members of my Troop explaining that after four years I will be stepping down as Scoutmaster at the end of this year. My projects will then be to help build the Troop as I serve in the role of unit membership chair on the committee and help build the district as I serve as vice-chair of membership on the district committee. But my main source of excitement now is the Venturing Crew I organized and helped form in January.

Four years is a long time to be Scoutmaster and I am starting to get burned out. I know it's time to move on...

LC, I think I'm being misunderstood here and apologies for calling you naive. It was un scout like. I do though stand by my point on how you promote scouting.

 

I am not talking about hiding anything, I'm not talking about uniforms just for formal occasions. Of course not.

 

What I'm talking about is if you are looking to promote scouting you have to treat it like anything, else you have to look at what "sells" and what gets people through the door.

Thanks, Cambridge.

If you look back a few posts I did say "You are correct". I then said that my Scoutmaster friend had a Troop where uniforms and ideals weren't popular. That is not in reference to you or your Scouting group or how I promote Scouting. Your point about showing youth having fun and adventures is valid, no doubt. However, when we are talking to parents we don't want to say, "well, we're not going to use the Scout Oath and Law around here. We're just a high adventure club". Likewise, we're not going to say that we don't wear uniforms around here either because, well, in the case of my Troop doing either of these things would be disingenuous. I'm not into bait and switch.

Now, on my social media page for the Troop I do post pictures of my Scouts out in the field doing the fun stuff. But I also post pictures of them doing service in the community. Service might not be "sexy" to some teens but it's pretty darn important and I'm not going to hide that from my recruiting strategy.

Naive? I've been called worse. Uniforms aren't for formal occasions. And the Ideals aren't to be hidden.

 

How could parents object to "formation of moral character" unless the troop has a very narrow definition of "moral character" (it's immoral for boys to have long hair)?

Basically, it's like, "don't you tell me how to raise my child! I'll take care of that on my own." I think it has to do with the membership policy, to be perfectly honest with you. It's a pretty big deal around here.

But that's not why kids or adults sign up. They sign up to set fire to stuff in the words' date=' go climbing and kayaking and generally enjoy doing something muddy and/or adventurous.[/quote']

 

You are correct. In fact, I know that my Scoutmaster friend from down the road made a comment about how emphasizing the outdoors and high adventure is the only way she is able to recruit new members to her Troop. In her experience, uniforms aren't highly thought of in her Troop or neighborhood. Also, she says that parents in the area aren't interested in the Troop's meddling in the formation of moral character.

 

Personally, I find this contradictory to what Scouting is about. Uniforms and Ideals are a part of the Methods. So is the Outdoors, obviously! But we can't neglect part of our Methods to appease the masses...Or should we?

Reality says few people see those things, especially in our too fast world where if people even look at a paper, they simply scan it.

 

Oh, you're so skeptical! Who's being negative now??

Getting back to the original topic, I have some other suggestions on how to promote scouting -

1. Become active partners with your chartered organization. Do service projects for them. Do they have a newsletter, bulletin or other publication you could get an article or picture in. Have the SPL, SM or CM go to an appropriate meeting and give a "state of the Troop or Pack" report once a year. Thank the organizations leaders (pastor, board of directors, etc.) for their support.

 

2. Get your unit involved in your community. Do service projects (long & short term) for other organizations. Participate in community events. Once people see you doing things they will ask you to do more.

 

3. If your CO is a church, see if the boys can "serve" as ushers, ministers, cantors or other positions in the church. Is there a children's service or Sunday school program your scouts could help with? A youth group they could partner with. Are there church events where the boys could lend a helping hand? Have them wear their uniform (field or activity) to these events as often as possible.

 

IMHO scouting has become "invisible" because we have let it become that way. We participate in Scouting activities but most of the time those things happen far away from the public eye. If you want to be seen, you have to do things when and where people can see you. You have to make people pay attention to you.

 

And if all people ever hear is the negative things then we only have ourselves to blame for not sharing the good things scouting does.

I am not ashamed to be a Scouter and I tell other people about the good side of scouting all the time. Yes the membership issue can be a touchy subject for some people. The couple of times I have been asked about it my response has been that National sets the policy and my opinion doesn't really matter. If they still want my opinion I tell them that there is no place in scouting for any type of sexual behavior, period. I believe it is none of my business if someone is straight or gay or whatever. When I recruit leaders their sexuality has nothing to do with the qualities I am interested in.

Chris, you are absolutely correct. In order to no longer be invisible we need to be...well...visible. One of things I've been doing lately is submit to the local fee neighborhood papers photos of our Scouts doing service in the community. This is free advertising and I've heard from people throughout the community that they read my articles and admitted they didn't realize Scouts were still out in the world doing Good Turns. Can you believe that?! Yes, negative press stays in ppl's heads longer than the positive stuff.

I am very excited about our new Venturing Crew! And also excited that I will, in fact, be able to take the crew committee challenge training in March at our area Venturing conference. The youth are really into it so far and it's only been a month. It's a great way to keep Scouting fresh for the older guys and now their sisters can finally join them! (Oh, and I can now share this experience with my wife who wasn't totally into Boy Scouts.)

Well, I've heard of trying to "find yourself" but this goes way beyond that!

You know how Lem wears the First Class pin on his sweet, sweet plaid shirts in Follow Me Boys? Well, I started doing that exact same thing (even with plaid shirts...but not because of Lem...I'm apparently a "lumbersexual") when I go to social outings. People always notice the First Class pin and ask, "hey, why are you wearing that Boy Scout pin?" When I say, 'well, I'm a Scoutmaster here in M...and I help change lives'. They really can't argue with that! It's been a positive thing and I continue to sport that pin more and more.

Matthew, those folks who ride your donkey about the membership policy just don't know how to have a civil conversation. I know that some of my Scouts have been harassed by civvies for offering to sell them popcorn. Truth is, I don't like the discrimination either but folks don't have to be butts about it to my Scouts!

LeCastor

 

Thats awesome man! I am happy for you

Thanks, Jason. It's definitely a good feeling. I was sad that the PL and APL both declined the invitation, though...At least their fellow Patol-mates will tell them all the cool things they did/saw on Saturday!

 

Sometimes, you just gotta model to young people how they should live ... really live ... and hope that they'll try on their own and think "So, that scouter might have been crazy, but he was also right!"

LOVE THIS.

 

It's a good thing the ACLU is around to save everyone from themselves.

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh, wee-ooh...

Where's Merlyn?!

The Ft. McCoy program is also referred to as the Challenge Academy which takes at-risk youth and attempts to turn them around with a boot-camp experience. Seems to be quite successful in that they have been around for quite some time now.

 

Stosh

Hi, scoutldr, I had the same thought when I read the subject line. However, Learning For Life seems to be so much removed from our traditional units that it wouldn't do much "harm" to our image in the community.

If Boy Scout Troops were suddenly doing all of the military drills, etc. then that'd be whole different kettle of fish or ball of wax or whatever...

LeCastor

Sorry. I guess that might have seemed harsh but it's nothing compared to what I do to journal articles. I thought I had toned it down sufficiently...evidently not. My apologies. To me the way to get them outside and into the forest or field...is to do it. Get them out. Which for me' date=' since this is my field, isn't all that difficult or controversial. Maybe I'm a little too critical of journalists who think they know something.[/quote']

 

It's ok, Pack. My blood pressure is back down now.

 

Just to be clear, I encourage my Patrols to camp every month and get out and do stuff in nature all the time. But the current guys aren't into it, as I've made clear many times before.

 

As for reading about this kind of thing, I think it's healthy for me, at least, to supplement my training with some outside sources. It's easy to say just "do it" but quite another thing to actually get the Scouts interested if they just aren't.

LeCastor' date=' it seems that the hijack is over....before I could 'flip the switch' on this thread...a good thing. There have been many laments regarding the inactivity of children 'these days'. I guess it really is quite different given the electronic diversions that are available. I don't have a solution to this if it really is a problem. When I was their age most of my peers were not wasting away in front of some computer game. Instead they were wasting away working on a car or some even greater waste of time. For the boys today I offer walks and hikes in the forest and fields, backpacking trips, anything to get them outside, and I create games to try to generate interest in what's out there. Being able to 'name' things is OK but the better stories are about what they DO and how they interact. It helps to be able to collect specimens and put them under a 'scope to see the truly 'hidden' world. But all that depends on boys having a spark of interest in these things to begin with and if that's not something they've learned or experienced in their families, it's a rare case that the spark is innate and I haven't found the secret to causing greater interest in, for example, spore prints, than some stupid facebook 'conversation'. It helps to ban cell phones while out there. Edit: OK, I can't stand it. The book is not all that well-written. I have a suspicion he did it as much for the money as for any other motivation. It doesn't really have many (if any) original ideas but is rather a compendium or, being generous, a synthesis of the works of others...which is fair enough if it presents something that is a bit less of a sermon in the end. It doesn't. Yes, children need the opportunity for exploration and imagination. They should not be sucked into some two-dimensional screen for their formative years. Is this really something we didn't know already? How many of the ideas of this book did ANY members of these forums not already understand? Really? So to sort of quote one of the negative reviews: 'Put the book away and take the children outside to have a real experience'.[/quote'] Pack, this seems like a strange attack. The point of the book is to assemble different studies to show how society has shifted away from natural play to a culture of fear of injury and lawsuits. Did you see my post about taking a Patrol out into the wild to look for tracks in the snow this weekend? No need to trash the book. It would be more constructive to come up with ways to help keep youth in nature.

I am happy to announce that 1/3 of the Atomic Tacos Patrol showed up at the trailhead this morning along with a few dads. We took advantage of the warm temps (low-20s) and hiked around a marsh area. The Scouts pointed out evidence of animal tracks: raccoons, deer, and turkey for sure. It was a lot of fun once we got going. One of the Scouts said, "the sooner we get this done the sooner I can go home." But that same kid soon got lost in the fun of the hike and started searching out tracks and scat. I love when experiments like this work out well!

I'm one happy Beaver!

Wow, and all I want to do is make it possible for teenagers to go backpacking...

The beauty of nature includes warm and low temperatures, T. I consider one Scout in attendance a success.

On Monday during my SM minute, I told the two Patrols that I'd be at the trailhead of a local county park this Saturday at 10:00am with doughnuts if anybody wanted to join me. Several said they had prior engagements but one Scout has said he and his dad will be there! We're talking February in WI here and it's pretty cold right now. But this guy's coming out! We're going to look for tracks in the snow and listen to the sounds of winter. It's going to be great!

Thanks, dhendron, for the PP. I looked through it this morning. Back in December I took the Advisor training but missed the chance to the Venturing Committee Challenge. I'm hoping the local CR Area 7 Venturing Conference will offer in-person training in March.

Nothing messy about it, BSA has been involved in a hypocritical double standard for over 10 years and now has to do a mad scramble to justify what they have done. There's no amount of lipstick that's going to make this pig look good.

 

Stosh

Stosh, that certainly sounds "messy" to me...And trying to put lipstick on a pig, now THAT'S messy!

Thank you, BSA National, for adopting a rule that you apparently need degrees in both law and complex mathematics to fully understand. I only have one. Maybe my son can help me, he wasn't a math major but he did get 800 on the math SAT...

 

And now that this has been moved to Issues and Politics, I will say this: And it's all to protect a policy that should not exist in the first place.

I agree. This is a mess.