RESPONSIBILITY

By George Denise

Responsibility is an interesting concept. When you assume responsibility for something, you take on the full burden for seeing that it is completed. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to do it. It means you are responsible for seeing that it is done. If you forget, it is your fault. If something happens that keeps you from following through, it is still your fault that it isn't done. As the person who assumed the responsibility, it was up to you to "Be Prepared." You should have had a back-up plan. If the person you assign it to doesn't follow through, they have failed in their responsibility to you, but you have still failed in your responsibility to others to see that it was done. It was your responsibility.

Think of it this way. Suppose you own a store. Your income is totally dependent on the amount of business you bring in. If you are late in opening your store, regardless of the reason, you have lost the money you would have earned from any customers that might have come by before you opened.

If you have employees, and you assign them the job of opening up your store for you, and then they forget or are delayed, you lose money. It may have been their fault, but you are the one who loses the money. You still have to pay them. You either needed to hire more carefully, or you needed to have a back-up plan in case something happened to them. It was your responsibility.

If the City decides to do work on the street in front of your store, it's not your fault. But you lose business, and therefore, you lose money. You need to come up with a plan to overcome the loss of sales caused by the street repairs. Put up extra signs. Advertise more. Offer a special "street repair" sale. Hire someone to escort would-be customers past the street repair work. You need to do something to offset the loss of business the street repairs will cause.

As Scouts, you have made a commitment to yourselves, your parents, to this troop, and to the Boy Scouts of America, that you will try to live by the Scout Oath and Law in your everyday life. You committed that you will be active in your troop and patrol, that you will attend meetings and outings regularly, and that you won't just attend, but that you will attend in full uniform, and even more importantly, enthusiastically. Those are your responsibilities as Scouts.

Those of you who are junior leaders, you have even greater responsibilities. Because in addition to the commitments mentioned above that all Scouts make, you have the responsibilities that go with your office. Your attendance requirements are even greater than for Scouts not holding office. You also have other duties, such as representing your patrol at PLC meetings once each month. Those of you who are patrol leaders, you need to meet with your patrol and find out what activities they want to work on at upcoming meetings, what activities they want to play, and then pass this information on at the PLC. You are responsible to see that your patrol has a flag, and that it is brought to meetings and on outings. You need to encourage your members to attend meetings and outings, and if they cannot, to let you know so you can account for them. Other positions have other responsibilities. The Scribes are responsible for recording attendance, for example.

Each of you has responsibilities. You can ask others to help you with them. You can assign the task, but you can't assign the responsibility. If you are a patrol leader, for example, and can't make the PLC, you need to make sure someone is there in your place. If they do not make it, it is your fault, not theirs, because it was your responsibility. It was your responsibility to find someone, make sure they could make it, remind them, and then check at the last minute just to make sure. Some of you will live up to it, some of you won't.

Let's review some of these requirements:

Attendance requirements to be considered active for advancement: minimum 50% attendance, 75% attended or excused. For junior leaders, 75% attendance, 90% attendance or excused; meetings and outings.

Members are expected to attend meetings in full uniform and with their Scout book.

To earn the Honor Patrol Award, each patrol is expected to have a patrol name, a patrol patch, a patrol yell, and a patrol flag.

Each patrol is expected to have a representative at every PLC. Troop Guides and the Leadership Corps (SPL, ASPL, Scribe, Quartermaster) are expected to attend also.

One third of each patrol is expected to advance in rank, or earn two merit badges each quarter.

Each patrol is supposed to either increase in size, or have at least eight members each quarter.

There are other duties too, for each position. We will discuss these in upcoming meetings.

How are you doing as a Scout? As a leader? How is your patrol doing? Are you ready to assume your responsibilities?