Scout handbook offers lessons to live by

[fgoodwin 23]

Scout handbook offers lessons to live by

 

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=28&a=299422

http://tinyurl.com/yu9kqk

 

Dan Conradt

7/2/2007 8:32:21 AM

 

Carole Schember gave me something to think about when she said "the world would be a better place if everyone read the Boy Scout Handbook." I first met Carole Schember when I was working on a news story about a local scout leader.

 

We sat in her daughter's living room, and while we talked, she absently paged through a copy of "The Official Boy Scout Handbook." It wasn't a new book, but it had the same lovingly used look I've seen with some Bibles.

 

And she spoke passionately about how young people need direction, and good role models.

 

We ended our visit, and as I was about to leave, she handed me her copy of the Boy Scout Handbook and said "I want you to have this."

 

I hadn't given scouting much thought for 40 years, but I knew it was a gift that was being given with great feeling. I stood at the door and paged through the book, past chapters on topics I've always identified as the backbone of scouting -- pitching tents, tying square knots and hiking. I told Mrs. Schember I have a 6-year-old son, and would be honored to share the book with him.

 

I was a scout when I was young, but there weren't enough kids in Rose Creek to form a Boy Scout troop. So the program ended following the Webelos program, the transition between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.

 

I had pretty much forgotten about my scouting days until that visit with Carole Schember, and after putting Steven to bed that night, I settled in on the couch to read through the handbook more carefully.

 

And the memories came flooding back, memories of weekly pack meetings, scouting jamborees on the Mower County Fairgrounds and community service projects such as picking up garbage in the ditches along Highway 56.

 

Once, we even found a dollar in the ditch. In 1966, it was enough to buy each of the 10 kids in our pack an ice cream cone.

 

I remembered walking with my Cub Scout pack in Rose Creek's centennial parade in 1967; and earning an Arrowhead by completing a project that required the planning, cooking and cleanup of a meal for your family -- in my case, hamburgers, French fries and chocolate malts.

 

I even built a pretty fast Pinewood Derby car.

 

And each month I would page through my copy of "Boy's Life" and be fascinated by stories about stamp collecting, space exploration, or kids my age who were organizing food drives and cleanup projects in their communities.

 

I was in some pretty good company. More than 100 million Americans have been Boy Scouts since the organization was founded in 1910. Neil Armstrong and Henry Aaron were scouts. So were Walter Cronkite, Bill Gates and Steven Spielberg. Gerald Ford and Harrison Ford too.

 

But reading through the handbook reminded me that there is more to scouting than building campfires and learning first aid. The Scout Law proclaims that "A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent."

 

Objectively, I'd say I accomplished about six of those things today. There's room for improvement, but what a great goal.

 

My copy of the Boy Scout Handbook is looking a little more worn now than it was when I first got it, and I have shared it with Steven.

 

And now I know what Carole Schember was talking about.

 

Maybe if we heard "On my honor I will do my best ..." more often, we wouldn't hear "You have the right to remain silent ..." so much.

 

Dan Conradt, a lifelong Mower County resident, lives in Austin with his wife, Carla Johnson, and their son.

[lee1989_2007 10]

hey man, that was very inspiring. thank you for sharing that story and all i can say is that i agree 100% with what you said.

[SSScout 1615]

I eventually had three books. Looking back, I think perhaps the "politically correct" folks may have been active even back then. My first book past Cubs (Lion then Webelos) was "The Handbook for Boys" . Read that title again. Small, thick, black and white, LOTS of stuff on nature, tracking, camp craft, etc.but pocket sized. Sometime later, the bigger "Scout Handbook" came out, bought that. Full color, pretty, but no indian/Scout on the cover, only a Scout in full stride.. Why the title change? I am not equiped to compare the two for content. The third was also a larger book, again with a "pretty "cover. Same difference in title. Seems even back then, 'they' were trying to make us more exclusive? Is that the right word?

 

Boy vs Scout

 

Handbook vs Manual

 

Is there a difference?

 

I have them all socked away in a box out in the garage. I'll get'em out again sometime the Boy gets curious about his old mans history...

[scoutldr 732]

Handbook vs. manual? The word "manual" means "of or related to the hands" (Latin - manus). As in "manual labor". I would say they are the same.