Personal Reflection on ScoutmasterCG Archive

Retirement

Thu, 06 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

You gotta have a cake!

I am more interested in the bigger ideas of Scouting rather than writing about my own Troop or my individual experiences. Bear with me today as I share what’s been going on recently.

Short of two years ago I delivered this letter to our Troop Committee: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 To The Committee Troop 24 April 2014 marks my 30 th year as Scoutmaster and I have come to the decision that September 1, 2014 will be the date of my retirement. Our long-range plans at this writing include a trip to Kandersteg in the summer of 2014 and with your permission I would like to lead that trip as my last as Scoutmaster.

Charlie Green 1925-2016

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

We hadn’t gone more than a hundred yards or so when an enemy rose up in front of us and started spraying us with a Schmeizer machine gun or ‘burp gun’ as we called them. We hit the ground and I, for one, just tried to get closer to the earth without returning fire immediately. What did happen immediately was that they started throwing in artillery or mortar fire (or both) on us.

What is Your Scouting Legacy?

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

You probably can’t appreciate what your Scouting legacy will be a few years from now.

Today you have your hands and your head full of getting things done; looking into the future may not be high priority. No matter how hopeful or difficult things may seem at the moment, no matter how well or poorly you imagine you are doing, how organized or chaotic things may seem, you are doing important work in the lives of your Scouts.

Reinvention

Mon, 21 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Within the next several hours of my writing this a few hundred, or perhaps a few thousand, people will comment on this Manifesto written by Seth Godin .

Godin is a leading voice in what he characterizes as ’the new industrial revolution'.

Godin’s main assertion is that the way we communicate, relate and do business is undergoing total reinvention. As an example you are reading what I am writing right now. You can talk back to me and, simultaneously, to an audience of several hundred others.

How to be Cool (or perhaps not)

Sat, 19 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Homer:So, I realized that being with my family is more important than being cool. Dad, what you just said was powerfully uncool.

Homer: You know what the song says: “It’s hip to be square”. Lisa: That song is so lame.

Homer: So lame that it’s… cool? Bart+Lisa: No.

Marge: Am I cool, kids? Bart+Lisa: No.

Marge: Good. I’m glad. And that’s what makes me cool, not caring,right? Bart+Lisa: No.

Marge:Well, how the hell do you be cool?

Worth the Effort and the Time

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This weekend a young man I know is getting married. He’s a great guy whom I have known and worked closely with for many years.

These days I don’t get to see enough of him but we can usually pick up where we left off pretty easily – he’s a good friend. It seems like only a few months ago he was a twelve-year-old Scout. It was a joy to watch him grow up from the perspective of a Scoutmaster. This weekend I’ll be attending his wedding in my other role; as his father. Like most parents I will wonder how this all happened so fast but I won’t agonize over whether or not I missed out on watching him grow up or whether I was around enough. In the midst of the best and the worst of our time together in Scouting I sometimes wondered if it was all worth the effort, the time, the frustration. In the end would it really matter? If you are sharing Scouting with a son or daughter as one of their adult leaders you will probably ask the same question on occasion.

Far Side of the Moon

Thu, 02 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When Apollo spacecraft passed to the far side of the moon there were some tense moments in mission control.

During this part of the orbit radio communication with the earth was impossible.

There was no way to know if everything was alright until the spacecraft reappeared.

Imagine yourself sitting in mission control without being able to see or speak to the astronauts and not knowing if they were in trouble. It must have been a completely helpless feeling.

Milestones

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I started blogging here to talk about Scouting in general rather than chronicle my particular experiences.

However today was memorable in several ways.

I had the honor of presiding at a Court of Honor and presenting four of our Scouts with the rank of Eagle. But before the Court of Honor got off the ground to my utter surprise my fellow leaders took over the proceedings for a few moments to celebrate my twenty-fifth year as Scoutmaster.

Criticism and Change

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes we get so involved and so closely identified with Scouting that we bruise easily.

Perhaps the sharpest criticism is when our Scouts seem disinterested or uninvolved. Boys are Scouts because they like the idea of Scouting yet battle with some of the things that Scouts do. In a period of life when they are intent on forming an individual identity they sometimes despise those things that make them a part of a group. At the same time, paradoxically, they want to be accepted, to fit in, to fully be a part of the group.

What are Your Expectations?

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

‘Don’t cast your pearls before swine’, don’t put things you value in front of people who reject the notion it has value. That’s just a little peevish, isn’t it? It’ smacks of taking your ball and bat and going home. What if we didn’t attach a personal value to the acceptance of our work, but only to the work itself? How would that change our approach? If we didn’t allow our personal expectations get in the way of the program, what would happen?

Declination

Tue, 26 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Compasses point at magnetic north.

Meridians of longitude point at true north.

Latitude and longitude, a grid of measured coordinates, determine geographic locations.

Compass readings have to be reconciled to the measured grid; a factor called declination. The magnetic poles of the earth shift slightly over time, and declination changes depending on your location. We enter into an undertaking like scouting with our own presuppositions and ideas.

These ideas may be aligned with what the goals and intents of Scouting, sightly off course, or badly misdirected. Once we learn the real goals and intents we need to adjust course or we’re in danger of steering away from our destination.

900 and Counting

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Blogging and statistics; it’s easy to get the cart before the horse. When I started this blog a little more than three years ago I was much more interested in statistics than I am now. Now I am reasonably sure that I have actual readers and am not just writing off into the void somewhere.

I note that the most recent post was my 900th (give or take a few because I think the counter on my Typepad account registers unpublished drafts too.) These posts have garnered just over 700 comments.

Walking on Water or Just Walking

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, swelling in the present moment and feeling truly alive.” – Thich Nhat Hanh I spent a pleasant hour or so last night talking with Scoutmaster Jerry Schleining author of the Scoutmaster Minute blog and podcast. (keep an eye out for our discussion on a future Scoutmaster Minute podcast). One of the recurring themes of our discussion was how little either of our Troops resemble a Norman Rockwell painting and how pleased we are that this is so. Once Scoutmasters discover the tremendous capabilities of their Scouts and let them go to work great things happen.

Moderation

Sun, 24 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Haven’t we all participated in conversations about the way “THE COUNCIL” or “THE GOVERNMENT” or “THE COMPANY” spends money, earns money, wastes money and generally does what does?

Something deep in humanity in general, at the heart of the American way of government, and suffused in our culture is an abiding suspicion that:

Those in power (or seeking power) are at least part rascally, unworthy, dense and probably patently dishonest (unless they are my friends or I voted for them).

Theory of Belts and Aptitude

Sun, 24 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This will seem mean spirited, but it is a theory that has been proven many, many times. The Theory of Belts and Aptitude: A scouter’s aptitude is inversely proportional to the number of things worn on their belt.

I have met and worked with hundreds of scouters as a camp director and have learned that a scouter who has three or more things hanging from their belt may mean trouble. Any reasonable individual may sport a flashlight, canteen, sierra cup, knife fork and spoon, hand axe, knife, first aid kit or coil of rope on their belt once in a while but certainly not all of them at once. The most skilled outdoorsmen I have known do not need to advertise their competence nor carry it with them on their belt. They may sport, at most, a modest and useful knife.

1000 and Counting

Sat, 23 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Allow me a self-congratulatory moment as, with this post, the Scoutmaster Blog reaches the 1000 post mark.

I started writing the blog almost five years ago (here’s the first post ) as an exercise in sorting out my own thinking and in the vague hope that someone may find it useful. The weekly podcast started in January of this year and now demands most of the time I spend on the blog.

The Vernal Equinox

Sat, 23 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Our old brown earth has, once again, wobbled through winter and brought spring to the northern hemisphere. As goes the old saying “the first day of spring and the first spring day may be far apart”. Take a few moments to welcome spring.

Emily Dickinson captured the sharp paradoxical heart of early spring in all it’s sweet sadness: The saddest noise, the sweetest noise, The maddest noise that grows, – The birds, they make it in the spring, At night’s delicious close.

The Value, The Rightness, The Truth of the Work Itself.

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, essentially an apostolic work, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. –Thomas Merton, in a letter to Jim Forest dated February 21, 1966, reproduced in The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters by Thomas Merton (W.

Confessions of a Straight as an Order of the Arrow Boy Scout

Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I was a Boy Scout.

Despite what my grandmother seemed to think, that was no merit badge of masculine heterosexuality in the circles in which I moved, despite those magnificent khaki green knee socks held up with red garters that made up the lower half of the summer uniform. If it were the babe magnet she claimed, the young women that I knew showed great restraint, never letting me see their weak knees or anything else for that matter, a failure that would not have been shared around a campfire.

The Joy Of It All!

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I was never a Scout as a boy but I had a copy of the patrol Leaders handbook illustrated with line drawings of perfect campsites and campfires, of Scouts in perfectly neat uniforms lining up eagerly to listen to their patrol leader, cheering heartily, rallying around the patrol flag waving their hats.

I was quickly disappointed when youthful attempts to organize our neighborhood gang didn’t resemble those idealized pictures. The idea that the perfect is the enemy of the good, the assumption that a perfect solution exists and that any solution short of perfection is unacceptable, reduces complex situations to two black and white illusions. It’s a very human thing to form illusions of ideal people, places and things. If you think about it we commemorate and idolize the perfect almost unconsciously, we smile into the camera when our picture is taken, the products we buy are advertised idealistically.

Our Boys

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

In 30 plus years of Scouting this past Saturday was particularly meaningful. My wife and I were invited to the wedding of one of the men she calls ‘our boys’. Andy worked with me on camp staff and worked for me when I was a camp director nearly twenty years ago.

There’s something to the friendships we forged as camp staff members that remains lasting and important. Andy asked me to be one of the readers at his wedding. We sat with ‘our boys’ during the ceremony and they stifled a laugh when I managed to brush the microphone rather loudly with the paper I read from. At the reception we almost all fit around one table.

What's a Scout Hour?

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I posted this ‘study’ to Facebook earlier this week. The interest it created leads me to share news of research by hard-working yet little known Scouters who staff the Large Baden Collider at Philmont Scout Ranch. Some years ago Bernoulli (Harry Bernoulli, Pack 234) concluded Scout volunteers could fulfill their mission in an hour a week. This hypothesis has since been the subject of intensive study.

I was able to find the most current formula that accounts for the ages of the Scouts (younger Scouts require more time) and the influence of other volunteers. (Sc x AuN)/1000=SH Where ‘SH’ = Scout Hour, ‘Sc’=Scouts, ‘AuN’= Adjusted Unit Number The value for Sc is determined by (SoR x M) –Sa = Sc Where ‘SoR’ (Socuts on Roster) = the base number of Scouts the volunteer is directly charged with supervising, M is the multiplier determined by the type of unit (Cub Scout Packs use 10, all others use 15), ‘Sa’ is the sum of the Scouts ages. The value of AuN is determined by UN (if P then UNx2) – (1/3 AoR) =AuN Where ‘UN’ is the last two digits of the unit number (‘P’ = Pack), ‘AoR’ is adults on roster (1/3 AoR is the traditional calculation recognizing 1/3 of the available volunteers do all the work).

Life is understood backwards; but lived forwards..

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. Søren Kierkegaard – Danish philosopher and theologian 1813-1855.

There’s a great divide we cross sometime in our adulthood where we are better able to examine and understand the lives we have lived. Most of us who volunteer in Scouting have crossed that divide while the Scouts we serve have not. They are so busy living forward that they don’t have the time or inclination to look back very often.

Inspiring Discovery

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Make Me a Boat If I communicate the love of the sea to my people, Soon you will see them diversifying according to their thousand particular qualities: One will weave the fabrics, Another will cut the tree in the forest, Another still will forge nails Someone will observe the stars to learn how to navigate, All will work as one. To create the ship is not just to weave the fabrics, Nor just to forge the nails, Nor only to read the stars, But to long for the endless immensity of the sea. — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (A free translation of his poem Dessine-moi un bateau ) What is the goal of our work? If our goal is a boat we approach the task logically by assigning the making of the sails, forging of nails and cutting of wood. We’ll have a boat, but it will be an empty vessel with no mission, no inspiration. If our goal is the joy of the journey, the benefits of going through the process, we create a vision of the sea, a longing for exploration and watch as that inspiration ignites the desire to build. The workers will discover and invent the process, there will be many false starts and mistakes along the way, it will take much longer. But the result is a vessel that carries aspirations, hopes and dreams.

What's in the box?

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We hesitate. We stall or try for perfect or have meetings or polish or avoid the final ‘go’ because we’re afraid that it might not work, that the art won’t be well received, that people will hate it. Here’s the thing: there’s a box on the table. And you need to decide whether or not you’re going to open it. All the wishing and planning and imagining isn’t going to change what’s already in the box. The act of opening it doesn’t deserve anxiety because the contents of the box were determined a long time ago. What’s in the box is in the box, regardless of how much anxiety goes into opening it. Sure, do a great job, the best job you can do with the resources you’ve got. But then quit imagining and go ahead and open the box. Seth’s Blog: What’s in the box? .

What did you learn in Scouting?

Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I learned how to not be afraid.

Before Scouts I was afraid of a lot of stuff. Now, this is typically true of most young children and whether or not we are Scouts, we typically grow out of many of those childhood fears. But I know that my time in Scouting included getting up in front of a group (SPL), having to explain (telling the truth) about why things are bad (PL) and how to handle myself and behave in new situations (summer camp).

Discovering Scouting

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

One of the real joys of working as a volunteer Scout leader is discovering Scouting.

Scouting shares similarities to other endeavors but it is a unique field of work. Like the work of churches it encourages spiritual investigation but has no dogma. Like the work of schools it fosters learning but relies on a highly individualized, experiential approach. Like the work of athletics it builds physical strength but reaches beyond the theory of the game.

The Curmudgeonly, Cane Waving, Old Scouter

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Once in a while a young, energetic Scout leader bounds up on my front porch here and says: ‘I have a great new idea!’ I grip my cane, stare over my bifocals and reply ‘There is nothing new – now get off my porch!’ They walk away muttering under their breath ‘ What a curmudgeonly, cane waving, old man!’ No one has actually called me that (at least not yet). But sometimes I do feel a bit like those old guys I ran into again and again when I was a 24 year-old Scoutmaster 27 years ago.

Stay Restless

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Tradition is a form of complacency and innovation is a form of restlessness.

Complacency resists change: “We’ve always done it that way” “Nobody would like that change” “We don’t get any complaints (well, one or two from people with sour grapes.)” “People will get confused if we change that.”

Innovation begins with inquiry: “Why are we doing things that way?” “Is what we are doing actually achieving our goals?” “Is the cost of staying the same greater than the cost of change?” “Are we being true to the principles at the heart of our work?”

Connecting the Dots

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford University in 2005

Parents of my Scouts are on an uncertain journey. They’ll only know if they did the right things and made good decisions in retrospect.

Things Overheard at Scout Camp

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Scout leaders hear lots of interesting things over the course of a normal day (if there is such a thing) at Scout camp. Many times even the most contradictory versions of many of these phrases are heard minutes apart. Have you seen my (handbook, merit badge book, wallet, towel, water bottle)? You do know where the shower house is, don’t you? (This is, You are) the worst (counselor, patrol, troop, senior patrol leader, patrol leader, scoutmaster, tent, bunk, breakfast, lunch, dinner) I have ever had!

Productive Chaos

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Over time, processes that seek to decrease entropy and create order are valued, but improving them gets more difficult as well. If you’re seeking to make the organized more organized, it’s a tough row to hoe. Far easier and more productive to create productive chaos, to interrupt, re-create, produce, invent and redefine. Seth Godin Most of our work as Scoutmasters is like hiking a trail; start here and end up there. But things are not always that simple and organized. It’s not always a steady pace forward. We start, stop, regroup, retreat, advance, turn around, sit down, stand still, walk, run, crawl, limp, saunter; but at least most of the time we are doing something.

In a moment's time.

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Like a lot of people I was standing in the winter cold on the 20th of December at 2:45AM staring up at the moon. For the first time in 372 years, the earth briefly shadowed the moon in a total lunar eclipse. The stars were just supporting players to moon this longest night of the year. As time moves forward to the summer solstice each day adds a few more minutes of sunlight. We may not notice the days growing longer; after all we have things to do.

Old Scouts - Young Scouts

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve hung in there long enough to enjoy watching some of my old Scouts grow up and journey far into adulthood.

Scouts from my first few years as Scoutmaster are now approaching forty years of age (!) and have families of their own. My own son will be getting married in a few weeks and it all seems like an impossibly short time has passed since we were all camping together. My wife and I go to weddings, get birth announcements and otherwise take note of various milestones in the lives of our old Scouts. We are deeply appreciative and touched to be a continuing part of their lives.

No Canoe Can Hold Me

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Had a fantastic week canoeing in Canada last month.

I had to laugh when I saw this article in The Onion.

Thankfully Dennis wasn’t with us. No Canoe Can Hold Me By Dennis Puttkamer The Onion March 29, 2006 | Issue 42•13 Care to take a relaxing, uneventful canoe trip down the lazy river, the sights and sounds of nature soothing you? Want the warm midday sun to bronze your shoulders as you calmly drift across the water? Well, you’d better call someone else to join you.

Join Scouting Anyway

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

A brief discussion with a reader leads me to encourage parents who differ with the policies of the BSA to consider joining scouting anyway.

Most comment and discussion surrounding the issue of the BSA excluding atheists and gays from scouting assumes that all of us endorse these policies, we don’t.

During my 2 years as a Scoutmaster I have put up with a great deal of biased, prejudiced, improper words and conduct from my fellow leaders. I have also benefited from their tolerance, understanding and inclusiveness. Scout leaders are as much of a mixed bag as teachers, coaches, professors, clergy, police, politicians and other authority figures. Scouting remains decentralized enough that local groups reflect local values.

The Twain Effect

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

in Scout Parents When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

Attributed to Mark Twain* I have watched many fathers wince as their sons publicly shunned them and sons wince as their fathers publicly acknowledged them. The ‘Twain Effect’ is immediately recognizable to those parents who have been through it.

Eagle Court of Honor

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Scout Ken Ryan was scoutmaster of Troop 12 for thirty years and decided to retire the year I became Scoutmaster. Ken visited a troop meeting once or twice a year and maintained his registration with the troop until he died a couple of years ago. When invited to attend our Eagle Court of Honor Ken demurred.

I pressed him on it and he said: “When I was a boy and got my Eagle (that would have been in the nineteen thirties) I went to a troop meeting, my Scoutmaster handed be the badge and shook my hand.. ” At this point Ken raised both hands as if in benediction and concluded with; “… that was it.”

Thinking Patriotism

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

I live in a small town that is fortunate to have a lively schedule of civic events. Of all these I most enjoy the several parades we have each year; their homey scale are a perfect fit for our little town.

Every parade has it’s usual compliment of fire trucks, scouts, antique cars and civic groups but all follow a color guard of some description at the head of the parade. Most of the time I am alone when I remove my hat and place it over my heart as the flag passes. Most people don’t even stand up. At this point I could launch into a tirade over what a sorry state of affairs it is when I am alone in saluting the flag and rail against something, but I am not enraged or disappointed in my fellow citizens. My lonely demonstration of patriotism is not so much a public as a private expression. In saluting the flag I am thinking of my father Charlie and his brothers Malcolm and Clark, all who served in the military during World War II, my grandfather Herbert Ford who served in World War I, Matt Emerson, one of my Eagle Scouts, currently serving in Iraq; and by extension all who gave of themselves to defend or build our nation. Most importantly I am expressing my dedication to the ideals and propositions that we share as a nation: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

What Can Parents Do?

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands. -Anne Frank

I don’t know how much I can add to that thought.

Parents have it hard. They are sometimes fearful, disappointed, tired, disgusted or angry with the way things are going in their children’s lives and take it out on the closest person.