Boy Scout: One who
does everything according to the rules. --Urban
Dictionary
The pinnacle of my life as a Scout came at the age of eight,
when I won the Pinewood Derby in my local Cub Scout pack. The derby is a race, pitting hand built
wooden cars against each another, the hope being that as boys compete, they also
will learn about being a good sport and fair play. Me? I loved my winning trophy but soon
thereafter the Scouts faded from my life.
Yet through the years I’ve grown to have a deep respect and
admiration for the scouting movement, both for girls and boys. Scouting is one
of the few American youth organizations remaining which works to build
individual character and good citizens. That’s its central mission: to shape
the values and ideals of young women and men, so that these future leaders can
build a better nation and world. True:
it’s been a bumpy few years for scouting. It’s struggled to be more inclusive of
LGBT youth and adults and the number of kids in scouting is in decline. It’s tough to compete against the explosive
proliferation of youth sports and a high tech screen filled world that kids
call home.
But scouting carries on in its idealistic work, even when it
finds itself caught up in the mud and muck and mess of our current political
situation. Recently, the President
addressed a crowd of 40,000 scouts and their parents at the Scouting Jamboree,
an annual summer gathering. The Commander in Chief is the honorary head of the
scouts and this speech is traditionally an opportunity for kids, volunteers and
Moms and Dads to hear what has always been a non-partisan “rah-rah” speech, an
address about American values, scouting and patriotism.
Until this year, when, in an odd, disjointed, bordering on
rude, even obscene talk, the Tweeter-In-Chief went on a rant: about Washington,
about his “enemies”, about New York City cocktail parties filled with “hot”
guests, about the failure of Obamacare, about his disdain for the “fake media”,
etc., etc., etc. Some cheered. Others booed. Most were just confused by the
weirdness of the address. Of course the
media picked up on it and created a firestorm, one so red hot that the Boy
Scouts of America Chief Executive Michael Surbaugh was forced to apologize: “We
sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.”
Call me a “Boy Scout” if you will, but I think this train
wreck of an event embodies so much of what is going wrong, going south, and
maybe even fast going away, in America.
Things like civic ideals and civic values. Remember? These are the hoped
for character traits that are supposed to bind us together as a nation; ensure
that we can and will flourish in community when we commit to acting in a
certain way, in all of our public dealings, as citizens and neighbors and
leaders.
Things like decency in language and behavior. Honor in all our
relationships. Humility in triumph and defeat.
Respect for the person on the other side of an issue. Trustworthiness when you commit to an
agreement. Faith, in all its shapes and forms. Public service, not for personal
gain, but for the common good. Service to others, in gratitude for the gift of
freedom. Kindness to others, especially for
those who struggle in this life. Patriotism, a sincere love for our country, in
all its diversity and beauty.
The problem is that in our current culture—political,
social, media—such “Boy Scout’ish” behavioral norms are often judged as naive
at best, or impossible to practice, at worst.
“Boy Scout” is now used as an ironic pejorative, a put down for one who
is too idealistic and earnest. The easy
thing would be to pin the blame for our current struggles on just one person or
one political party, one ideology or one group of people, but the truth is we
all own this societal challenge. We got
to this point in our nation together.
And so we all are responsible, personally and communally, to
reaffirm that to do the right thing is the right thing to do. To act with honesty and integrity in
relationships is the way to live.
Doesn’t matter if it’s at a Scout Jamboree or a vote in Washington, D.C.,
in a town meeting debate or at a discussion over the fence with a
neighbor.
So please, yes, call me a Boy Scout. I still actually
believe in America,
that as Americans, we can do better and hold ourselves and our leaders to the
highest of ideals and values.
