From: "settummanque, the blackeagle" (Mike Walton)
Via: Scouts-L Youth Programs Discussion List
Date: FEB 19, 2000
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Have you seen our Supermen lately? Those boys dressed in tan shirts with olive pants. They wear red shoulder loops as a symbol of their passion: to help other people at all times. To be an example of a positive good citizen. To carry about with them a sense of the highest degree of personal character.

Those Supermen are our Boy Scouts, part of the program of the Boy Scouts of America. Heroes, but only in their own minds; for neither their peers nor anyone else sees him as anything else but a kid. And a "nerdy kid" at that, even those that don’t wear eyeglasses. Like Clark Kent, many of them don’t want you to know their "secret identity" and would deny it as strong as Judas’ denial of Christ.

We as Americans used to hold in high regard Boy Scouts and the Boy Scouting program. Many of our leaders in Congress, our state and federal leaders, and men engaged in business and government all were Boy Scouts at one time or another in their lives. They may not have advanced to the highest ranks in the Scouting program - that of being an Eagle Scout - but that did not matter much to them; they were Boy Scouts and remember fondly the excitement and joy of just being a Boy Scout - ready for action!

It was demonstrated time and time again that our businesses and companies - even our government - could trust a Boy Scout or a former Boy Scout. We gave them jobs in front of others, even qualified others, because we knew that Boy Scouts could be trusted, did not need to be coddled or babysat, had a high degree of initiative and self-starting, and most of all, could get along with the worst of people and make any bad situation a decent one.

A Boy Scout could wear his uniform and immediately people would open their doors, their kitchens, their automobiles or planes or trucks. We trusted them so much that some people would actually give their keys to their most prized possessions to a Boy Scout, knowing that when they returned to reclaim their items, that their personal belongings would have been taken care of. Nothing missing - it may even be washed and cleaned inside out.

It was told to me that many years ago, that a former Boy Scout entering any new town or city would only have to stand near the center of town and raise his right hand in the sign of the Scout and others would come to his aid. It was such a powerful symbol that one of our former Presidents used it on several times to pledge his honor by.

Our military, aware of the strong training in the outdoors and the extremely hard leadership and service training would advance new recruits whom were Eagle Scouts to the grade of Private First Class and placed them in charge of and supervising other new recruits. They knew what other Americans back then knew: that Scouting prepares young men for life. American life.

In the spring of 1976, I walked into a credit union with an older friend of mine. He needed a loan to repair his car. When the loan officer asked him "What kind of collateral do you have?" my friend lowered his head. I spoke for him. "He’s an Eagle Scout. He’ll repay it." The loan officer asked for proof, and my friend opened his wallet and withdrew his Eagle Scout card, aged from the period of time spent covered up behind photos of girlfriends and friends whom were girls.

The loan officer left the room with the card in his hand. He returned 20 minutes later with paperwork to sign for the loan, the loan check and a $20 dollar bill.

"This is a grant from the Credit Union. It does not need to be repaid," the loan officer spoke, handing over the twenty, "And if you notice on the loan agreement, we have given you a two month’s grace before you must start repayment." My friend repaid the loan in full, including the twenty-dollar "grant", in one month and a half.

So, what happened? Can a Boy Scout today - an Eagle Scout - walk into a bank or credit union, ask for a loan to do car repairs, or to go to camp and only have as backup a forty-five cent card typed with his name and Troop number and the date he earned the highest award in Boy Scouting? Not likely. Not without someone else signing for him. What happened?

We lost faith in our youth, that’s what happened. We became the parents and somehow we forgot that some adult, some man or woman, have so much confidence in us that they would allow us to do stuff without supervision. Without too much control. We lost faith in the ability of a young man or woman to lead others. To do things for other people. We want adults to do those things, because "adults can get things done and they won’t mess it up."

We may have lost faith, but our children did not. Every day, newspapers report on some 14 or 16 or 12-year-old, involved in leading or committing some crime. Leading others in gangs against other 14 or 16 or 12-year-olds. Killing other kids and setting themselves up as "examples of good living."

During the several riots in Los Angeles, it was not groups of adults out there looting and causing damage. It was groups of youth, many of them no older than Boy Scouting -aged.

We told our children that programs like Scouting are little more than "organized games" instead of a program geared to teach skills of good citizenship, personal character and mental and physical fitness. "Oh, Scouts isn’t important. You’ll have plenty of time later for that." Only when the young man is close to high school graduation does some parents "seem to care" about their son’s "citizenship skills." Long enough for him to earn Eagle Scout, another "check off" on the "A-list" for college entry or money for college entry.

Youth members don’t want to wear the uniform, even if they own a complete uniform. While their peers may chide them, that’s not their biggest fear: their biggest fear is that "they don’t really know what a Boy Scout can do." That’s because we in Scouting do not spend enough time telling them the importance of being a Scout, telling them that we are proud of them when they wear their uniform - and most Americans are as well. Those Scouts look at us as examples - and we don’t wear our uniforms any more either. Except during award ceremonies or when we know the local paper might take our photo. So why should they?

Most of all, we have de-emphasized the idea of doing good for others. Daily, not when it’s the "spirit of the season" or to "get credit toward something." We have told our children not to care about other people any more... "care about yourself first and then think about those others out there." It’s "me, me, me, and me. Then, I’ll think or pray about you."

And many employers are pleading with communities to "please teach the kids how to behave, how to deal and work with each other, and how to make decisions on their own instead of standing and waiting for me to make it for them." One businessman I know personally told me "I would rather have a self-starter make a mistake that may cost me money than five bumps-on- the-log that I must tell every step over and over and over again. In the long run, I lose more money dealing with the five than I would dealing with the one self-starter!"

Scouting -then and now - teaches those group interaction and followship/leadership skills.

Our children now have cartoon heroes to "wish they were like." Nobody real can match up to a cartoon hero; because real people don’t do "cool things" like helping others push cars off the roadway. Except at Christmas time.

My youngest went with me to a shopping center one rainy afternoon, and on the way back, I pulled off and helped push a stalled car off the roadway in front of us. When I returned to the car, AJ looked at me and said, "You must be really strong, Daddy...are you Superman?"

"No," I told him, restarting the car and putting it into motion. "I’m a Boy Scout. That’s what Boy Scouts do."

Settummanque!!

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