skeptic

They cannot do that, period. They might though not allow a unit to participate IF they do other stuff too. But, the unit, as long as it is within the rules of National fund raising, can choose whatever they prefer. Now dealing with such a demand is dicy I would guess, but if you have a strong unit with good support, you can suggest some sand pounding I believe, but in a Scoutlike way.

Fine lines exist on how to challenge young people, or even adults. Many, likely most, would not be damaged by once common stunts like the snipe hunt. But, in the modern era, too many youth are unprepared for even a small amount of teasing, and too many parents overreact to it when it occurs. Society will not protect us from our own mental challenges and fears. Care needs to be taken, but much of that is the so called responsible adult being aware if someone is showing stress and removing them from the focus at a minimum, and maybe reviewing things with other adults and even the youth. It

Some irony here. I have been trying to update my YP off and on now for a few weeks. I use Chrome most of the time, but it will not work at all for some reason, even after assuring the background is cleaned out. Got on earlier using Edge, which I do not prefer. It locked up, and now I am in limbo with the first retake segment. Of course, it should have worked with Chrome, and the hangup is just very annoying. Yet, I get an email about my renewal needed constantly. Guess I will try again later.

As long as individuals or groups try to paint a picture of Child Sexual Abuse in the BSA that is not the truth, then these untruths will continue to be called out. Absolutely true; and the premise plays both directions.

It seems to me that the horse, has been beat until it is no longer even good for the glue factory. Perhaps we can work on doing our best to stop it from happening. There still cannot ever be absolutes, and if it does happen, the response needs to also follow the guidelines, and work to punish the actual perpetrator, and holding any who bent to pressure to overlook or something to accountability.

Thus what we call "thorns and roses" after events at times, especially larger ones. Trying to get the youth to speak can be hard much of the time, as we have a society that tends to NOT encourage them to speak their minds, but with candor and verity. So, they simply glare or look confused. Then, later, someone speaks up out of the circle, so to speak. We should still take that into consideration, and even maybe draw out some more. Always the challenge, but that is part of the job description I think.

That is a great poem. Another old one that I like still is Kipling's If. Growing up in the late forties and early fifties, our Mom read to my brother and I out of Cook's One Hundred and One Famous Poems. I still have that copy of the book, along with other examples, as it was in print for decades, and I think still is in a modified format. Kipling of course was part of the B.P.'s influence for Cubbing. I do not remember for sure, but I believe there is mention that B.P. was friends with Kipling.

I fudged my Nature merit badge in 1959, I think. It grated on my conscious, and later I earned completely Soil and Water, Forestry, and worked on Wildlife Management. I also did insect study. Outside of Scouts, I took a summer school class in biology that I did not need to take, but felt it would also salve my disappointment in myself. It was not just learning about nature and so on, but about myself. Self reflection can be good for you, and as an adolescent, it is even more important perhaps. Another reason we should, in my view, mentor bad behaviour in a way that might allow the youth

I find your discussion astute, and agree that age is, as many say, just a number. Of course, in parts of the world that number in regard to youth is varied in its validity for some involvements. In over fifty years in Scouting, more than 45 as an adult, I have had the pleasure of meeting many fine youth and even mentored a fair share, or I hope so. Part of that has been as happened sitting on local Eagle boards, likely at least fifteen or so. Also attended numerous Eagle dinners of recognition and visited with Eagles of all ages, from 13, completed just short of that age, to actually

Actually, it is mostly more elderly or seasoned males, seemingly unable to get out of the ruts of the past. Of course, rereading some of the historical material on B.P. shows that he was open from the early period to a program for girls, and it was always a work in progress for he and his wife. On the other hand, I have had seen some nuance that older women also have issue to a larger extent than younger. In the end, they are youth, and they all deserve the challenges Scouting in its pure form offers, no matter the chromosomes. JMHO of course.

Well this is a media platform and really a bit misleading. First, she has yet to finish the advancement, if the article is accurate. Secondly, we have no idea, other than the vague mention of bias towards her being female, as to what her experiences actually have been. Is she close to 13? What activities has her unit done? What is her experience outside of Scouting? Is she a prodigy of some kind, or just driven? The comments about some older people being rude and condescending are sad, but again out of context. We really do not know how they came about, or how many actually occurred.

That may be; but we also may be only seeing the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Also comparatively, the percent of verified abuse in relation to the total number of scouts is very small statistically. Still, there is an ongoing challenge, and many errors and simply stupid decisions have been noted. It is a little scary, but we can only "Do Our Best".

our view, and your right. Biased and skewed by circumstance, but your issue in that regard. I wish there was a way for your pain and hate to be lessened. But that is not something any of us can do, nor is there enough money to do it either. The realities of a warped society and human weakness cannot be remedied, but only protected against as well as possible. Recognition of reality is not the same as condoning bad actions.

Okay, finally we can see apparent proof that the BSA issue is part of the larger problem in our country, and probably most of the world if other countries mirror us in some manner. I was called names and worse when I tried to point out that BSA was being singled out while a greater problem likely exists throughout the youth serving agencies. https://www.businessinsider.com/sexual-abuse-schools-inappropriate-student-teacher-relationship-predators-2023-12 So, while there still is no excuse for what was sensationalized in regard to BSA, much that was poorly documented or exaggerated

This concept being a major piece of the Scouts BSA program is, or should be, a given. BSA was integral from the start of the the Conservation awareness in the early teens. Its primary U.S. founders were all outdoor and nature supporters, though some had odd ideas in relation to today. Seton particularly was a proponent of much of the modern leanings, and I suspect if he were alive today would be on the more radical side of the movements. And even Roosevelt, it seems to me, had a direction change in his approach to nature and the natural resources. Burroughs and Hornaday also supported BSA

Finding the alumni is only helpful if they choose to get involved or if they donate with a purpose, one that is noted before they do it. On a National level, we can hark back a bit to the the discussion a while back about the English Scouter Bear something (I am old and forget). At the 2010 Jambo we had Mike Rowe. To me we should be working with his group to point youth towards regular jobs, as well as portraying Scout Spirit. I could easily see a cooperative at camps that would focus on such things. Before our local council stabbed us all with mothballing camp, we had had a number of ye

And, the reality that "justice" is not a finite concept and ambiguous for the most part. Those harmed or at least feeling harmed always will say "justice" is not served, no matter what. Our legal system is such that the lawyers can play games for decades in some cases, certainly for months at least, and whatever happens, "justice" is not served for somebody, and the balance of Her scales will not be therre.

Only some time and patience will tell. I see some concern in finding new directions, not only for fund raising, which is an absolute, but also pointing at the inclusion of modern tech, as the youth now understand to some level, to open the program, while also mentioning aspects of the outdoors as being important. New and old can, and really must, be married. And, somehow we need to find that positive interface with the public again. My experience is that it is there, just in a hibernation mode, if you will. When we have our rag tag group in public, we seldom het any negative feedback, rat

Not exactly; there has been discourse on this Forum of this very thing. Few other groups were willing to get involved with shared info, and the IV files were never secret, other than the legal needs of the time,, just not publicized. Again, this is simply a twisting of the story while leaving out much of the peripheral info. And it also ignores the changes over time that relate to the whole thing. BSA has always been an integral part of our society, but it does not control those outside it, or even completely control those within. Guidelines are easily ignored, and many people choose to a

In our area we are now trying to rally a new direction, but we are being shut down by a very unprofessional and in most of our views unqualified SE. Trouble is that we are having issues with finding anyone to whom we can go above council. We are trying to get a real gathering of COR's who CAN fire the man, but finding the contacts is difficult when the office claims they cannot share that info. Our current elect president seems to either not understand very well, or he is just a puppet, or it continues to seem. Meanwhile, our local concerned Scouters are trying to form our own program coop

And of course, there is much of the issue in our society, liability based on a warped legal system that allows these suits, most settled due to the exorbitant cost of fighting the case. Add to that, illogical jurors who too often allow common sense to fly away when confronted with a sympathetic situation.

I do not know if our council is representative, but finding info going back is a real challenge. Digging through old charter paperwork is where I found much of the info on our unit, but it is mostly in boxes and minimally sorted in storage. If a unit does not keep its own history, finding it is a major effort, and it will literally give someone a headache trying to read old forms that are carbonized and so on. Good luck.

"quick pay"; how can one NOT understand that? In a way, that is reflective of too much of society, and of course it appears, those that opted for "the lottery" easy pick.

They are thinking dollars and ignorance on the part of too many as to the decorum and respect our Flag is due. That is the sad world in which we live where too many do not understand, or maybe do not care, about such things. The Flag Code touches on this type of thing, though it is often not clear where we step over the blurred lines of respect and avarice or misguided display concepts. The constant use of our, in theory, respectful holidays related to the Flag to have "sales" is part and parcel of this. But, there are no barriers that can enforce the Code, only those that may remind other

Locally, our Scouts participated in a number of Veterana' Day programs or recognitions. One of them was at our local county government center where Scouts acted as honor guards for Vets being recognized from each of the services, including Coast Guard. They even note the Space Force, though not sure that is ever going to be large in the short term. For our area, we actually have Vandenburg fairly close, ust up the coast. Anway, at the event we had one Gold Star family recognized, and we had two WWII Vets, one 98, and one 102. We have a photo of one of my own unit scouts shaking hand