Take Part In

[evmori]

OK LongHaul let's debate!

 

1st off, this debate does not include Scouts working on their Eagle Project.

 

The service project requirement has the wording "take part in service projects".

 

What does take part in mean to you?

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[EagleInKY]

Ooh, ooh, let me try. I love word games.

 

If you were to ask me "what does it mean to take part in a basketball game?". I would say it would mean I was a player on a team, suited up to play the game. I might be a bench warmer, but I would be there, with my team, doing what was asked of me.

 

I would not take it to mean that I was a cheerleader, a fan, selling drinks in the concession stand, selling tickets, promoting the game, picking uniforms, or any other behind the scenes administrative stuff.

 

Now, if you asked me "what does it mean to take part in running a basketball game or league?". Then I would be inclined to include those other items.

 

 

Therefore, when I read "take part in service projects", I assume that a scout is out there swinging hammers, digging holes, painting, planting,.... etc. He's "taking part in" the service project. If he's helping a scout plan, promote or raise money for his service project, I'd say he's helping administer it, not helping "do it".

[Beavah]

Ooh, ooh, let me try. I love word games.

 

Yah. Word games are fun, eh?

 

We need context, though, even for word games. It's really more like 'Take part in Leadership Service Project(s) approved by the SM before the project(s) are started.'

 

Even tho' word games are fun, they don't really answer the question "What's best for the boy?" or even better, "What's best for all da boys in this particular unit's program?" My wish is that service-oriented and mentally awake scouters debate those things, not what the meaning of "is" is.

 

 

 

[clydesdale115]

I'm not LongHaul, nor do I play him on TV, but here's my 2 cents:

 

Maybe it is just semantics, but "take part in service project" sounds pretty broad to me. There's much more to a service project than just the actual hammering and digging. The administrative and planning part is still a PART, it's just not physical labor.

 

If a Scout arranges to have supplies donated, schedules workers, submits an article/photos for the newspaper, whatever, seems to me he is still taking part in the project. In the end, ALL these jobs are important - somebody's gotta do them.

 

If they only get credit for physical labor, who's gonna be stuck with doing all the other parts of the job? :-)

 

clyde

 

 

[frank10]

In any job I ever had I can assure you that the management got full credit for any thing I ever did.

[Fuzzy Bear]

The basketball Team analogy does include the bench warmers but in a Scout Service Project there are no bench warmers. It may not quite fit because there are only five slots in Basketball and the Coach may want any one of those filled with a fresh player at any time during the game. So by inference, all that are suited up are possible players during the entire game. In a Scout Service Project, all that suit up are players/workers during the entire project time and just being ready to work usually doesnt apply.

 

There are also administrative parts of the project that must be completed and they are best done by the manager of the project at other times, if possible. It gets a little tricky because if the manager just manages and doesn't do part of the manual labor, the other volunteers may feel cheated. The manager should try to understand their feelings. Actually, people that volunteer usually like the person in charge and just want to be around that individual. So, the smart manager would jump in and work along side of the laborers as much as possible. This makes the work a joy.

FB