The Reason Being blog is coordinating a set of blog posts about the Boy Scouts of America today. See their site for more posts. This contribution comes from my husband, Ben, who used to feel bad that he’d stopped short of becoming an Eagle scout. He doesn’t feel that way anymore.
“On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” — The Scout Oath
My years in Boy Scouts are full of fond memories. My troop used to go camping every month at various state parks and Scout camps, and we had a few trips each winter where we stayed in a wood-heated cabin instead of tents. We learned that you didn’t need to wear a jacket to cut and split wood even if it was really cold outside. And we learned that mittens left on a Franklin stove can get way too hot before they actually dry.
Every summer, we’d make the trip to Tomahawk Scout Camp for a week-long equivalent of summer camp, but with only boys and in two-man canvas tents with cots and mosquito netting instead of in cabins in the woods. We learned that some fungus glows in the dark and that throwing a can of mosquito spray in a campfire isn’t as impressive as we thought it would be.
There was enough pyromania to keep us warm and dry. We learned valuable skills like cooking breakfast and washing dishes and building shelters and climbing bluffs and tying knots and improvising bandages and remembering to bring bandages next time. Continue reading “Betrayed by the BSA”