Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Taking Responsibility
November 11, 2003
George Denise, Scoutmaster

Last week, I spoke rather sternly to you, the boys in our troop, about your behavior. It seems to me the troop has been growing more unruly, lately: taking longer to fall into formation, taking longer to quiet down when the sign is up, talking during formations, and worse, talking when others are making presentations to you. Some of this is normal boy behavior, of course.

Generally speaking, boys aren't well designed to stand in line at attention, nor to sit quietly, nor to listen attentively to others about a subject they may not really be interested in. They are better at exploring, taking things apart, running, and shouting and playing active games. These are the activities that for the past one million years have best prepared boys for manhood.

More recently, there was a period of time when a large part of our society insisted that there was no real biological difference between boys and girls, but that idea has pretty much been dispelled. As one mother noted: "Shelly can spend hours playing in her room with her Barbie dolls, inventing relationships between them. If I hand that same Barbie doll to Bobby to play with, a short time later he will have torn the arms off of it and pretend it is a gun." And Bobby was just three and one-half years old!

Yet boys do grow into men and they become leaders of men. And they have other needs, the need for achievement and the need for recognition. They need to develop other skills: self-discipline, personal responsibility, and respect for others. Interestingly enough, we can only respect others when we have learned to respect ourselves, and often, we learn to respect ourselves through our own accomplishments and through the respect we receive from others.

The Scouting years are the transitional years of adolescence, when boys are becoming men. What boys like most about Scouting is going camping, being out in the woods away from civilization, away from authority figures, free to just be themselves. Running amuck, so to speak. Yet, advancement, holding positions of leadership, learning new skills, and becoming valuable, contributing members of society are also growing in importance for most of you.

This desire for achievement and recognition manifests itself in running for and holding positions of leadership and in rank advancement. The ultimate achievement in Scouting is the rank of Eagle. While almost 10% of the Scouts in our troop achieve Eagle, nationally, only one or two Scouts out of 100 do so. It is a rare achievement. The Scouts who do achieve it are equally rare. It should not be taken lightly; it should not be given freely. It needs to be earned.

When a young man first joins Scouting, he joins to be with his friends, to go camping and to have fun. He is just getting started in Scouting, he does not know much, we do not expect much of him, and so we are not as critical of him. As he gets older, learns new skills, advances in rank, and gains positions of leadership, he is older, wiser, and now we do expect more. We expect to see him in full uniform. We expect him to be knowledgeable of the skills he has learned in Scouting, we expect him to be actively and enthusiastically participating, we expect him to be helping to lead and to be setting the example for the younger Scouts.

Scouting isn't for everyone. There are responsibilities placed upon you as older Scouts that don't exist in most other organizations. Nor is achieving Eagle for all Scouts. Only a few will have what it takes, and do what it takes to achieve this honor. If you are going to be one of them, then when that red, white, and blue ribbon with the silver eagle suspended from it is pinned to your chest, you should be able to wear it with pride, with your head held high, knowing that you have earned it; not just by completing six ranks, 21 merit badges and a project, but by demonstrating Scout Spirit through living the Oath and Law in your everyday life.

And that is just the beginning. If you achieve Eagle, you will be given the Eagle Challenge. For once an Eagle, always an Eagle, and for the rest of your life, because you are an Eagle, people will be holding you to a higher standard. They will expect more from you, as well they should.

So have fun. Go camping. Run amuck in the woods. But wear the uniform. And join in the activities, and participate actively and enthusiastically. Achieve and advance. Set a good example for others to follow. If you want to be a leader, then you need to lead.

Thank you for listening; and God be with you.